


Deliver Us from Evil

by roslinadamasinequanon



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Action/Adventure, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe, Angst, Children, Drama, Episode: s04e21 Life on Mars, Episode: s04e22 Commencement, Episode: s04e23 25, Episode: s05e01 7A WF 83429, Episode: s05e02 The Dogs of War, Episode: s05e03 Jefferson Lives, F/M, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-22
Updated: 2007-04-22
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:13:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 85,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roslinadamasinequanon/pseuds/roslinadamasinequanon
Summary: As the summer comes to an end a decision Jed reluctantly made comes back to haunt his family in a way that may end up costing him everything he holds dear.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: Warning, there are elements of physical and sexual torture in this segment, along with the injury to a child.  


* * *

"What are you doing sitting out here all alone?" Jed stopped in front of Toby's office upon seeing the very pregnant ex-wife of his communications director. 

"I'm just waiting for Toby." There was a pervasive sadness to Andy's tone that caused Jed to pause. 

"Andy, are you okay?" 

"I'm fine." 

"Why don't you come in to my office and relax. I'm not sure when Toby will be back." Jed reached down a hand to help Andy to her feet well aware of the balancing issues a nine months pregnant woman had. 

"Sir, I'm okay, really. You must be busy." 

"Not right now I'm not. Come on let's go." Jed led her into the Oval Office and helped her to sit on the couch. "Lean forward," he told her, and when she did so, he slid a throw pillow behind the small of her back. The gesture brought tears to Andy's eyes. 

"Did I do something wrong?" Jed asked with concern. 

"No, not at all. It's just… Through this whole pregnancy, I haven't had anyone who would know that a throw pillow behind my back would make me more comfortable." 

"Ah, that's just experience," Jed grinned with an 'aw shucks' manner. "When you've been through this as many times I have with Abbey, you learn all the little tricks. Twins are an extra heavy burden; you need to stay off your feet as much as possible. Now, you want to tell me why you looked so upset outside of Toby's office?" 

"I just need to see him. I… I said some really horrible things to him. He bought me a house." 

"I know. He was very excited. Well, as excited as Toby Ziegler can get." 

"He wants us to get married again. He wants our babies to have a traditional family." 

"Nothing wrong with that." Deep inside, Jed was hoping Andy would find it in her heart to give Toby another chance, to give those babies a chance at a traditional family. 

"No, there isn't, except that I've been married to Toby and I was miserable. There is a reason that we got divorced. I just couldn't live with all that negativity anymore. You work with him. You know what he's like." 

"Yeah, that's just Toby." 

"Yeah, it's just Toby, but try living with someone like that day in and day out. I told him that he was too sad for me. I told him that instead of showing our children that the world is for them, he was going to be telling them that they have to work hard in school so they can bone up for a life of hopelessness and despair." 

"Ouch," Jed winced. 

"Yeah. That's why I'm here. I want to apologize, well, not for saying it, because I still feel that way. I guess I just could have said it better." 

"Hey," Abbey poked her head in the door. "Charlie said you were here, Andy. Is this a private conversation?" 

"No, come on in." 

Abbey entered with Nicholas and Aislinn who were carrying crayon scribbled papers. "We just got back from Story Hour at the library. The kids wanted to bring you their latest masterpieces." 

Jed took the pictures from the kids making a great show of putting on his glasses to examine them then brought them over to the corkboard Abbey had had put up on one wall so that he could display the kids' artwork. Nicholas watched him tack up the photos but Aislinn was more interested in Andy. 

"Baby?" She pointed at Andy's stomach. Her mother had told her before that a baby lived in there. 

"Yes," Andy smiled patting her stomach. "There are two babies in here, just like you and Nicholas." 

Aislinn looked from Andy to Abbey and walked over to her mother placing a hand on Abbey's flat stomach. "Baby?" she asked her. 

Jed's head snapped around. 

"Now there's a panicked look if I ever saw one," Abbey laughed. "No, darlin'," she patted her daughter's head. "There's no baby in Mommy's belly right now. But you and Nicky did live right here for almost nine months until you were born." 

Aislinn nodded and walked over to check out Jed's display of her artwork. 

"Whew," Abbey turned to Andy. "It won't be long until she'll follow up with 'How did I get born?'" 

Andy chuckled, "I won't be looking forward to that one either." 

Abbey smiled and walked toward the children. "Okay, kids. Give Daddy a kiss and say good-bye to Congresswoman Wyatt. Time to go upstairs and clean up for lunch." 

"Bye, Daddy." The kids waved back at Jed as they left with their mother. 

"They're such sweet kids," Andy smiled. 

"Yeah, they really are. Aislinn is becoming such a little chatterbox and even though he's actually the younger one by sixteen whole minutes, Nicholas is always leading her around and making decisions about what they're going to play." 

"I hope my two get along as well as yours do." Andy started to get to her feet. 

"Oh, they have their moments, believe me. If, God forbid, Aislinn so much as looks at his favorite stuffed Tigger, Nicholas is off and…." Jed trailed off noticing the funny look on Andy's face as she reached for her purse. "Andy, you okay?" 

"Yeah. It was just…Ohhhh….""Andy bent over and grabbed at her stomach. Jed was at her side in an instant. 

"Is it a contraction?" 

"I don't know." 

"What do you mean you don't know?" 

"I've never had a contraction before, so I don't know. It started in my back and tightened up around stomach into a really sharp pain." 

"That's a contraction all right. It's exactly the way Abbey described it to me. You sit down and I'm going to call a car around." 

"No, call Toby. I want Toby to take me." Andy handed him her cell phone and Jed made the call. 

"Oh…Oh damn, this hurts." 

"It's okay, Andy. Just do your breathing. Toby will be here any minute." 

"What breathing?" she snapped. "I'm supposed to be induced for a C-section. I never did Lamaze classes." 

"Well then, it's a good thing for you that I did. Just breathe in deeply through your nose and let it out with your mouth." Jed looked down at his watch. "Tell me when you feel another one coming. The doctor is going to want to know how far apart the contractions are when you get to the hospital." 

Andy stared at him in awe. She thought men were supposed to fall apart around a laboring woman, but the President was calmly taking charge of the situation. "You're really good at this." 

"Experience." Jed tried to be cavalier but he knew that when it was Abbey he'd been a much more frantic nutcase. 

"I know you were with Abbey for the twins' birth. Was that the first time?" 

"Nope. I watched every blessed one of my kids come into this world. I even delivered Ellie. Abbey had her at home with me and…." 

"OHHHH!" Andy cried out as she reached for Jed's hand and squeezed it hard. 

"It's okay, Andy. Just breathe through it." Jed rubbed her shoulder. "Don't hold your breath. You have to try to relax. If you fight it, it's only going to hurt worse." 

"How do you know?!" Andy cried out as the pain grew in strength. "You're a man, you have no idea how much this HURTS!" 

"No, but I've been told," he grinned sympathetically. 

"I'm sorry," she groaned as the contraction ebbed. "I didn't mean to yell at you." 

"Hey, that was nothing compared to Abbey during transition. I've heard much worse, including a few instances when she threatened to rip off a certain piece of my anatomy that I'm quite partial to." 

Andy gave him a weak smile. "At this point, I can see why she'd want to do that." 

As the contraction ended, Jed looked at his watch, the color draining from his face and a nervous glitter flashing in his eyes. "Okay, uh…Andy, that was only three minutes apart. At five, you should be heading to the hospital." Jed helped her up to her feet and watched as her eyes widened with astonishment. 

"Ohhh…. Oh, God, I don't think I'm going to make it. My water just broke." 

"CHARLIE!" Jed bellowed. "GET MY WIFE!" 

**** 

"What's all this yelling going on in here?" Leo poked his head in from his office. 

"Andy's in labor," Jed continued to rub Andy's back in a soothing manner. 

"Labor?" Leo looked stunned. 

"Yeah, labor. You know, as in contractions, dilation, birth." 

"I get the picture," Leo grimaced. 

"I'm really sorry about your carpet." Andy looked down with dismay at the wet dark stain by her feet. 

"Hey, don't worry about that. It's seen worse. Nicky peed on it one day." 

"What the hell are we doing just standing around here?!" Leo burst out. "We need to get her to a hospital. Good God, she could have those kids right here in the Oval Office." 

Jed turned with surprise at his Chief of Staff's frantic tone. It was obvious Leo had not spent much time around a laboring woman. "Is this how you acted when Abbey went into labor at my State of the Union?" 

"Worse," Abbey said as she briskly entered the room. "I think he would have picked me up and carried me to the car if I'd have refused to go to the hospital for much longer." 

Abbey stopped in front of Andy and took her hand with a reassuring smile. "Men are always afraid these babies are just going to fall out of us onto their heads. Believe me," she turned to Leo. "We KNOW when they are about to emerge." 

Leo nodded his face reddening with the image Abbey presented. 

"So," she turned back to Jed. "How far apart are the contractions now?" 

"Just around three minutes." 

"Oh…dammit, Abbey…This HURTS!" 

"I know," Abbey stroked her hand sympathetically. "Oh, man, I know exactly what you're going through right now." 

"How the hell did you do this FIVE times?! Are you NUTS?" 

"I used to ask myself the same thing when I was in labor and when I was delivering. I had women tell me that you forget the pain once the baby is born. I NEVER forgot the pain once my babies were born. But I will tell you that as soon as I held them in my arms, I just knew that they were worth every moment of agony it took to get them here and you're going to feel the same way." 

"No, these two are it for me. Never….Ohhhh…." 

"Okay, Andy, we have to get you to a hospital before you deliver these babies right here. Jed, call Toby and tell him to meet us at the hospital." 

"No, no, I'm here," Toby burst through the door. "You okay, Andy?" 

"You're asking me that now?" 

"Uh… yeah…stupid question." 

"Ohh…This is really bad…" 

Abbey placed a hand on Andy's hard contracting stomach. Without doing an internal, she couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed that the Ziegler twins were anxiously on their way. "Andy, I hate to tell you this, but you guys better get moving. I don't think you'll be having a C-section." 

"But…but we have to. I didn't take natural childbirth classes." 

"I can't be a coach." Toby was white with fear. 

"Well, I could lend you Jed since he's such a phenomenal labor coach, at least until it comes time for episiotomies. At that point he usually needs an oxygen mask." She looked up at her nervous, hovering husband. "Jed, don't look so scared, I'm only kidding. They'll do fine with a nurse helping them out." 

"Episiotomy?" Andy looked like she might get sick as Toby led her slowly to the door. "Did you have to have one delivering the twins?" 

Abbey followed them down the hall. "Just Nicholas. Aislinn was a tiny baby and she came out okay with a lot of stretching with vitamin E oil, but Nicholas was breech and they needed to get him out fast so they did one. It's no big deal really. You won't even notice it until later. You're going to be fine, Andy. Good luck." Abbey kissed her cheek as they got to the door and Jed stopped in front of Toby. 

"Be good to her." He looked him sternly in the eye. "Try to stay calm even if you're freaking out inside. She doesn't need you to freak out." Jed reached out a hand to shake Toby's and added a pat on the shoulder. "Now go do your job, Daddy." 

Abbey and Jed waited in the doorway until the car drove off. 

"Do you think that's the way that we looked?" Jed wrapped his arms around his wife's waist from behind. 

"What?" 

"Do you think we looked like we were being led into the fires of hell when we left for the hospital for our kids' births." 

"I'm sure. I remember when I went into labor in London with Elizabeth. I believe the words Gerard and Colin used for the look on your face were 'sheer terror'." 

"Yeah, well they said you looked like you were going to be sick." 

"I felt like I was going to be sick. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life," she laughed. 

"And now our third daughter is graduating from college. It's all your fault, you know." 

"You're BLAMING me for our daughter graduating from college?" 

"Graduating THIS year. You're the one that said she could skip from first to third grade. If she had stayed where she was supposed to then she'd have another year of college." 

"Poor, Jed. You just can't stand it, can you? It kills you when another chick leaves the nest." 

"Yeah, I hate it and don't try to pretend that you don't. I've seen you sitting in their bedrooms holding their stuffed animals and crying." 

"Well, if Zoey chooses grad school at Johns Hopkins, she won't be that far away. And we still have another twenty years before Aislinn and Nicholas fly the coop." 

"That sounds like such a long time." 

"Yeah, but unfortunately we both know it goes by in the blink of an eye." 

"You know, I used to wish that I could make time stand still. But, if I had stopped things when the girls were still in school, we wouldn't have Annie or Nicholas and Aislinn. Time has to march on I guess." 

"Okay, now you're depressing me. Just be thankful Zoey cancelled her plans to spend the summer in France with Jean Paul so she can be here for the Philadelphia Olympics." 

"Yeah, we got Pierre on that one, didn't we?" 

"I guess we did." 

"Will she be coming with us to Jackson Hole?" 

"No, but she said she'd join us at the beach." 

"She's not bringing Frenchie, is she?" 

"No, he's going home for the month. But he'll be back in time for the Olympics." 

"Well, that's comforting." 

"I thought you'd be pleased." 


	2. Deliver Us from Evil

"Jed, come out here. This view is absolutely breathtaking." 

Jed walked through the sliding glass doors that led out to the deck with a glass of wine in each hand. He handed one of the glasses to his wife then joined her to lean against the rail gazing out over the woods and the lake. The glassy surface of the water held a reflection of the magnificent Grand Tetons that rose majestically off to the east. This was not the first time they had been to Wyoming. They had taken the girls to Yellowstone when they were younger, and four years ago they had spent some time in Jackson Hole. But, that vacation had been in a trendy resort. This time they had opted for a more private family vacation. To that end, they had rented a secluded log cabin far off the beaten path, where they could swim and fish and hike with their children away from the prying eyes of the press and other tourists. 

"It is beautiful," Jed took her hand in his. "So, what's on the agenda for tomorrow? Did you want to take the kids into town or just hang out around here." 

"I was thinking about just staying here at the lake. I don't want to bombard them with too much at once and they have been dying for you to take them fishing ever since you mentioned it to them." 

"Fishing it is then. Then maybe in the afternoon after their naps we can take them on a bike ride." 

"Uh, Jed, maybe that isn't such a good idea. Does a little thing like riding your bike into a tree the last time we were here mean anything to you?" 

"I was pissed then, Abbey, and you know how distracted I get when I'm pissed." 

"No, really…you?" Abbey sipped her wine with a raised brow. 

"Smart ass," Jed swatted her on the butt. 

"Mumma, Mumma, Mumma," Aislinn ran out onto the deck breathless and began to dance in front of her mother. "I gots to go PEE PEE!" 

"Okay, okay, well let's go then." Abbey handed her glass of wine to Jed and took her daughter's hand. 

Jed smiled as he watched them walk away toward the bathroom, Aislinn skipping alongside Abbey. 

Once in the bathroom Abbey started to unsnap Aislinn's jeans but her hands were pushed away. 

"No. Me do, me do." 

"Yes, ma'am." Abbey sat back on her heels and watched Aislinn struggle to get her jeans and then her pull-ups down. Neither child was completely potty trained so for safety's sake they still wore pull-ups. Abbey smiled as she watched Aislinn make her way to the small potty seat they had set up. 

"Aslinn!…Aslinn!" They heard Nicholas calling out for his missing sister. 

"Bafroom," Aislinn called back to him from her potty seat. 

"Aslinn go potty?" he asked from the doorway. 

"Yes," Abbey told him. "Does Nicky need to go potty?" 

Nicky nodded and set down the bag he was carrying. When Aislinn was finished, Abbey helped her son position himself in front of the potty seat. 

"Nicky gots a pee pee," Aislinn pointed to her brother. 

"Yes, he does," Abbey smiled over at Jed who now stood in the doorway. "Boys have pee pees and Nicky is a boy." 

"I don't has no pee pee," Aislinn sounded so deprived Jed nearly burst into laughter. 

"No, you don't. That's because you're a girl like Mommy and we don't have pee pees." 

"Daddy gots a pee pee." 

"That's because Daddy's a boy like Nicholas." 

"Daddy gots a big pee pee," Nicholas informed them both. This time Jed did burst into laughter. 

"Thanks for the plug there, little man." He moved to the sink where Abbey was helping the boy to wash his hands and patted him on the head. 

"Aslinn." Nicholas turned back to his sister, unaware of why his parents were laughing. "Wanna pay bocks?" 

"Okay." Aislinn picked up the bag filled with blocks and the two kids made their way to the living room to play. 

"That Aislinn," Abbey smiled. "Honest to God, she never stops. Why is the sun hot? Is the moon hot too? Why do dogs bark? Why can't Panda talk? Why is Nicky a boy? Why do you have boobies? Why can't kitties cry?" 

"She is a little pistol. I bet you were like that when you were her age, always questioning everything." 

"Probably. I know I used to drive Sister Mary Michael up the wall." 

"Yeah, the nuns didn't like being questioned, did they?" 

"Uh, no." They both looked down at their knuckles at the same time and started to laugh. Both had experience in the classroom of nuns, Abbey more so than Jed. Jed had attended a Catholic grammar school but had then been off to prep school, while all of Abbey's schooling had been religious in nature. "Between all the questions and trying to beat the impure thoughts out of us, we kept them on their toes." 

Jed smiled thinking of the teenaged Abbey having impure thoughts. "Speaking of impure thoughts, didn't we talk about you modeling your Sacred Heart uniform for me after you found it in the attic?" 

"I don't know about talking about it, but I do remember you fantasizing about me playing Catholic schoolgirl for you." 

"Any chance of that happening?" 

"Ask me at Halloween. Now come on, we better go keep an eye on the kids before they both decide they want the blue block and it ends up getting thrown at somebody's head." 

**** 

"Rise and shine, oh gorgeous one." Jed lifted the covers and tickled Abbey's toes. 

"Jed, stop it," she mumbled sleepily and kicked at his hand to stop him. 

"Come on, sweet ums, the fish are biting and I made French toast for breakfast." 

"Jed, it's like the middle of the night." She squinted toward the window to see that it was the gray of early dawn. She pulled the covers more snuggly around herself and closed her eyes. 

"Come on, Abs, the early bird gets the worm." 

"Jed, if you make one more asinine comment like that, I'm going to be forced to hit you. I'm on vacation. Go away and let me sleep." 

"Okay, I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice." Jed moved to the bedroom door and opened it. Two squealing excited children came running into the room. Jed lifted them onto the bed and they began to bounce up and down with enthusiasm. 

"Come on, Mumma, come on!" Aislinn knelt beside her mother her little fingers trying to push Abbey's eyelids open. 

"We go fish, Mumma." Nicholas began tugging on her hair. 

"Josiah Bartlet, you're going to pay for this," Abbey grumbled, but she began to sit up rubbing the sleep from her eyes like a child. 

"You're very cute when you're grumpy." 

"Mumma cute," Nicholas agreed and laid his head on her lap. 

Abbey smiled and yawned as she ruffled his hair. 

**** 

Abbey was feeling a little more with it after a shower and a breakfast of French toast and fresh fruit and a nice big mug of coffee. She threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top and pulled her hair up into a ponytail to tuck up under her Sox baseball cap. She packed up some juice boxes and snacks and they were off to the lake, the children chattering excitedly all the way down, the dogs weaving in between their legs. The morning was cool and all was quite still as they made their way through the woods down to the lake where a rowboat was tied up to the dock. Abbey put lifejackets on the children while Jed loaded their fishing poles into the boat. 

"Panna, come," Nicholas reached for his puppy. It was not a question. 

"Yes, Panda and Max can come but if Panda isn't a good girl, we'll have to bring her back." Abbey already knew Max would be fine; they had taken him out on a boat before. With the children and the dogs finally settled in the boat, Jed took his spot in the middle and picked up the oars. 

"You want any help rowing?" Abbey asked. 

"No, you keep your eye on the kids. I'll be fine." 

"Aw, you know how I love it when you play all macho." 

Jed turned back and grinned at her as he began to row the boat out toward a deserted island on the east side of the lake. The kids were enthralled with being out on the water. They tossed the crackers they had brought for a snack out to a passing family of ducks and Abbey had them scanning the shore for deer. But by the time Jed found a quiet cove that looked promising, they were ready to fish. 

"Abbey, can you help Nicky with his pole?' Jed asked, while he worked on baiting Aislinn's. 

"I can. But as you well know, I'll help him hold the pole but I'm not baiting and I'm not taking any fish off the hook." 

"Yes, dear, I know your fishing limitations." 

"As long as we're clear." 

Abbey sat with Nicholas between her legs to help him with his pole. She was more concerned with making sure the little boy didn't end up going overboard than she was making sure that he landed a fish. Panda sat at their feet chewing a bone Abbey had brought to keep the puppy occupied. Max had no such immature need but he sat in the bow of the boat with his own bone. 

It didn't take the children long to realize that fishing was not quite as much fun as they thought it was going to be. In fact, it was rather boring until Abbey watched Nicky's bobber dip under water. 

"Nicky, you have a bite!" Abbey excitedly showed him how to reel in his catch and with much help from his mother, the little boy pulled the fish toward the boat. Then, with a quick tug of his pole, Nicholas pulled the fish out of the water almost slapping it straight in Abbey's face. Abbey lurched back out of the way with a small shriek of dismay. 

"Look, I gots a fish!" he beamed with pride. 

"I see that. Could you please get it out of Mommy's face?" 

Jed laughed at the look of disgust on Abbey's face as the fish dangled in front of her. "Bring it over here, son. I'll take it off the hook for you." 

Once the fish had been caught, the twins were ready to deal with the boredom of waiting for a fish to bite. Before long, they had each caught a couple of fish. Jed packed the fish on ice then turned to the kids. 

"It's starting to get hot. Who's up for a swim?" 

"Me! Me! Me!" Both kids' hands shot up in the air. 

Jed rowed over to the small island and they pulled the boat up onto the sand. After a quick snack of juice, graham crackers, and grapes, they all stripped off their clothes to the bathing suits they wore underneath. Abbey and Jed sat on the sun-warmed sand and watched their children frolic in the shallow water of the lake, the gentle waves lapping their toes. 

"That sun feels so good." Abbey tilted her head back in a move that thrust her bikini covered breasts upward. Jed's fingers itched to reach out and cup a gentle mound, but the sound of his children laughing and jabbering kept him from making the intimate move. 

"Are you doing that to me on purpose?" he asked. 

"Doing what?" Abbey was all innocence as she slipped her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to look over at him. 

"As if you didn't know." His eyes moved pointedly to her chest. 

"I can't help it if you have a breast fetish." 

"Oh, so now it's a breast fetish." 

"Well, you are the one that likened them to a certain mountain range right over there across the lake." 

Jed looked from the Grand Tetons looming up on the horizon then back to Abbey's arched chest. 

"Well, both are pretty impressive," he admitted. 

Abbey's laughter was cut short as she watched Aislinn stand over an unsuspecting Nicholas with a bucket full of sand. 

"Aislinn Bartlet, don't you dare drop that on your brother's head." 

Aislinn stood in front of the sandcastle she had built with her brother and turned watery eyes her mother's way. "I wanna be King," she pouted. 

Nicholas shook his head negatively and stood up to face down his nemesis. "ME King," he stated adamantly. 

Green fire snapped in Aislinn's eyes much as it did in her mother's when her Irish got up and Abbey watched as her hands came up to shove at Nicholas. 

"Aislinn, STOP it." Abbey moved to the duo kneeling before them in the sand. "So, what's the problem here? You two built this castle together and Nicholas wants to be the king of the castle?" 

Nicholas nodded his big blue eyes – so serious. 

"But Aislinn helped to build the castle too, didn't she?" 

Again a solemn nod. 

"So, don't you think she should get to rule the castle too?" 

Nicholas nodded again showing that he thought that was fair but then his brow furrowed with confusion. "Boys is kings," he told his mother. 

"That's right, boys are kings. So what do we call girls who rule the castle?" 

"Queens," Nicky told her. 

"That's right. Aislinn," she turned to her daughter. "Did you know that being a queen can be just as important as being a king? Would you like to be a queen and rule the castle just like Nicky?" 

Aislinn nodded and sat down next to her brother. "Nicky, I be queen." 

"What's all this king and queen stuff?" Jed asked with mock outrage. "Wouldn't one of you rather be President?" 

"No," Nicky shook his head causing Abbey to laugh. 

"But being President is better because people have to CHOOSE you to be their leader," Jed tried to persuade his son. 

Nicholas leveled him a long look, "Daddy pwesdent, me king." 

"So much for egalitarianism in the Bartlet household," Jed chuckled with amusement. 

With the sand crisis averted and after playing in the water and on the beach for a while, lunch time was drawing near so they packed everything up and headed back to the cabin. Then, while the children napped, Abbey relaxed on the deck reading while Jed cleaned the fish that they decided to cook and eat that evening. 

Supper turned out to be a true family affair. Abbey set Jed and the kids up in the kitchen to prepare a salad together while she stood barefooted on the deck sipping wine and listening to Chopin while she grilled the fresh fish. The four of them dined that evening out on the deck watching the sun sink in a fiery ball behind the trees to the west. It was an enjoyable dinner, peaceful yet filled with the delightful ramblings of their excited children who were eager to rehash the day with their parents and remind them of all they had done. 

"Okay, troops," Abbey looked at her watch. "It's getting late. It's almost time for a bath and bed, but who wants to help clean up first?" 

Both kids were eager to get out of going to bed too soon and readily volunteered. 

"Good, Daddy is going to clear the table and I'll start on the dishes." 

"Me do disses. Come on, Nicky." Aislinn pulled Nicholas into the kitchen and stood before the sink. Abbey pulled two chairs forward so they could stand and reach. By the time Jed started clearing the table, she was standing between the two children washing the dishes while Aislinn and Nicholas played in the soapy water, dunking the silverware Abbey had given them to wash over and over and giggling when they splashed each other or their mother. 

"You sure they're going to need a bath?" Jed chuckled, as he eyed the soaking wet forms of his children. 

"Want baf…want baf…" both children argued for their bath time, which they both enjoyed tremendously. 

"Why don't you scoot them on up for a bath so I can finish up in here," Abbey urged him. 

Jed noticed she left off the "in peace" at the end of her sentence. Having two toddlers who always wanted to help and who often simply made more of a mess could be exhausting. 

"Okay, kids, you heard Mom. Let's go upstairs for a bath and pj's." 

"Bubbles." Nicky took his hand. 

"Yes, you can have bubbles." 

"And story," Aislinn reminded him. 

"Yes, sunshine, and a story." 

**** 

The Bartlet family slept in the following morning, Jed and Abbey enjoying a rare late morning sleep. The sun, fresh air and activities had evidently wiped the children out. When the kids did finally awaken, they dressed them and the small motorcade made its way into Jackson Hole for a breakfast of sourdough pancakes at the famous "Jedidiah's House of Sourdough". In the rustic log cabin, set to look like the home of a mountain man the children could talk as loud as they wanted and Abbey and Jed didn't have to worry about them making a mess with their maple syrup. 

With their bellies full, the Bartlets wandered down the streets of Jackson Hole taking in the old west false fronted buildings and the old fashioned saloons. They stopped at Jackson Corner where the children were enthralled by the "Jackson Corner Shootout", a re-enactment of an old west shoot out that had them cringing and clapping with excitement at the same time. 

Since they had planned on an evening out with the kids, they weren't too upset when the children were not ready to take an early nap thanks to the late hour they had arisen. So, rather than fight the inevitable, they decided to put the twins on the back of their rented bikes and take them for a ride on the mountain bike trails that ran through the woods and around the lake. In spite of Abbey's misgivings, Jed didn't have any problems staying on the trail this time. They spent an enjoyable couple of hours riding through the woods, the highlight of the afternoon coming when they were able point out a small herd of elk on the edge of a meadow to their children. By the time they finally returned to the cabin, both kids had fallen asleep in their seats and they were able to carry them inside and let them sleep while they showered and changed for dinner. 

Once the kids were awake, Abbey dressed them in matching jeans, checkered western shirts and cowboy boots and they all headed back to the outskirts of town for a wild evening at the Bar J Chuckwagon. While they dined on barbecued chicken, corn on the cob and cornbread, they watched an old fashioned western show. The kids especially enjoyed the rodeo parts of the show and were in awe at seeing a real buffalo up close. 

"Daddy, Mumma, big cow go MOO." Nicholas pointed his half-eaten ear of corn at the huge brown woolly animal walking in front of them. 

"That's not a cow, Nick, that's a buffalo," Jed told him. 

"Buffo. Mumma, Aslinn, buffo." Nicholas squirmed in his seat leaning forward to try to touch the passing animal. 

"Sit down, sweetheart." Abbey grabbed his belt loop and pulled him back down. "He's pretty big, isn't he?" 

"Big," Aislinn agreed with wide eyes. The buffalo intrigued her but it was the barrel racing that really caught her interest. At the young age of two and a half, she already had the love of "horsies" that all her elder sisters had shared. 

By the time the motorcade wound its way through the woods back to their cabin, both children were fast asleep in their car seats. Jed leaned in and unstrapped Aislinn, lifting the sleeping child into his arms and passing her on to Abbey with a few murmurs of protest from the cranky child. He then lifted Nicholas into his own arms and followed Abbey into the house. 

"This was a nice day, Jed," Abbey said as they undressed their sleeping children to tuck them into bed. 

"Yeah, it was fun getting to spend the whole day with the kids, but what would you say to an evening alone tomorrow – just you and me and no kids." 

"Well," Abbey appeared to weigh her decision for a moment. "I might not be adverse to that. It depends on what you have in mind." 

"You willing to risk it without knowing?" He raised a dangerous brow her way causing Abbey to smile. 

"What's life without a few risks?" 


	3. Deliver Us from Evil

The third day of the Bartlet vacation was spent around the cabin enjoying the amenities that had been provided to them. They puttered around out on the lake in the paddleboat that had come with the cabin, the kids dangling their feet over the edge of the boat into the water and dragging their little fishnets. 

"Catch any fish yet?" Jed asked them. 

Nicholas pulled his stick out of the water and looked into the empty white net. "Nope. I keep trying." With a determined look on his face, he dipped the net back into the water. 

"I fear for anyone who gets in that boy's way when he sets his mind to doing something," Abbey said. "Kind of like another Bartlet male that I know." 

Jed smiled at her. It always filled him with a warm feeling of pride when Abbey compared Nicholas to him. Oh, he knew there were a lot of his traits that had found their way into his daughters but it was different somehow when it was a son, another male. He knew Abbey felt the same when it came to her daughters. 

The smack to his cheek from a wet net startled Jed and caused him to jump. 

"Aislinn! What are you doing?" 

Aislinn giggled at the look on her father's face and the water dripping down his cheek. She was bored with trying to catch fish with Nicky and was ready to move on to bigger and better things. "Me pedal." She started to clamber up onto Jed's lap. 

"That's fine, sunshine, but I don't think you can reach the pedals." 

Aislinn stretched out her little legs kicking with frustration when they barely made it past her father's knees. 

"Why don't you just sit on Daddy's lap and help him pedal," Abbey suggested. 

"Okay." Aislinn snuggled into her father's chest, giggling again as she rubbed her soft cheek against the crisp chest hair that tickled her face. 

" _The ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah. The ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah, the ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to suck his thumb,_ " Jed paused to pull Nicky's thumb out of his mouth with a smile and a wink. " _And they all go marching down into the ground to get out of the rain…_ " The children picked up Jed's lead and soon the whole family was singing about marching ants as they pedaled their way back to shore. 

After a picnic lunch by the water and an afternoon playing _Candyland_ and _Chutes and Ladders_ , Abbey put the twins down for a nap and hopped into the shower to prepare for the evening ahead. By the time she emerged wearing just a towel, Jed had changed into a pair of chinos and a deep blue chambray shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes. He was reclining back on the couch doing a crossword puzzle, his bronze hair still damp and his glasses low on the bridge of his nose. He looked very relaxed and very, very sexy. 

"Well, other than telling me that you're going to feed me, you won't tell me where we're going tonight but can you at least tell me how to dress?" she asked. 

"Show me what you were thinking of wearing." 

Abbey pulled a sundress out of the closet and held it up for his inspection. 

"That should be fine. But, you might want to bring a sweater for later in the evening." 

Abbey nodded and set to dressing. Jed loved to watch his wife dress; for even when her moves were economical, they were highly erotic. He watched her slide a silky pair of French cut panties up over her hips and thought about later tonight when he would slide them back down. He watched her push her breasts together to hook the clasp on her matching bra and he squirmed, as his pants grew tighter in the groin. He gazed back down at his crossword puzzle trying to keep himself in some semblance of control; they did have dinner reservations after all. By the time he looked back up, Abbey was dressed and she was finishing drying her hair. 

Jed continued to observe her, watching her stand before the mirror putting on a pale pink shade of lipstick and fluffing her hair. The thin summer sheath that she wore was pale yellow and dotted with tiny roses. It fell to just above her knees and the spaghetti straps left her shoulders and arms bare. She had left her copper hair loose and flowing to her shoulders, just the way he liked it best. She turned from the mirror and moved to slide her feet into a pair of matching yellow sandals, the high heels doing something to her tanned bare legs that caused his groin to tighten and ache once again. God, she had fantastic legs. It was hard when he looked at them not to think about those shapely calves and thighs wrapped tightly around his hips holding him locked to her body, inside her body. 

"Jed?" 

"Hunh? What?" 

"You were a million miles away." She began to spritz herself with perfume. 

"Just trying to come up with a five letter word for wild cat." 

Abbey lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "You couldn't come up with feral?" She lifted her hair and turned her back to him. 

"Actually," He got to his feet to help her with the clasp on her necklace. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'Abbey'." He bent his head and nipped the soft skin on her neck before allowing her to let her hair fall. 

Abbey laughed. "Somehow, I don't think that's going to fit." 

Jed grabbed her hips and pulled her to him. "Maybe not, but I think it fits." 

"Really? Hoping for a little action tonight, are you?" She ran her hand over her husband's chest. 

"Hell, yes." He traced his finger under the delicate chain that ran along her collarbone. "I think…" 

"Mumma?" 

Abbey turned from Jed to see Nicholas in the doorway sucking his thumb, his fine blond hair sleep tousled and his worn Tigger tucked under his arm. 

"Hey, sweetheart." 

"I waked up." He rubbed his eyes sleepily. 

"I see that. Is Aislinn still sleeping?" 

Nicholas nodded. "I hungwy." 

"Well, Izzy's going to be giving you supper soon, but you can have some watermelon if you want." 

Nicky's lip began to quiver. "Want Mumma." He clutched on Abbey's leg. 

"Honey, Mommy and Daddy are going out for supper. Izzy is going to give you and Aislinn supper." 

"NO!" He buried his face against Abbey's thigh. "No want Izzy. Want my mumma." 

"Nicholas." Abbey knelt before him tilting his chin to look into his watery blue eyes. To her this had always been the hardest part about being a parent, leaving your child when they so desperately wanted you to be with them. Guilt was a horrible thing. "Mommy and Daddy are going out to supper to a grown up restaurant that wouldn't be any fun for you. You get to stay here and play with Panda and Max and Aislinn and maybe you could show Izzy how you learned how to play _Chutes and Ladders_ today. Wouldn't you like that?" 

Nicholas nodded reluctantly. "Me pay Ladders." 

"Yes, you can all play _Chutes and Ladders_ and tomorrow, if you're a good boy for Izzy tonight, we can all take a walk to the river and go fly fishing. Would you like that?" 

Nicholas nodded again and Abbey lifted him onto her hip to go and wait for Isabelle to make her way over from the cabin she was staying in with some of the Secret Service and the NSAs. Never having employed a full-time nanny, Abbey was in part gratified that it was she that her children most wanted to be with not the nanny. 

**** 

The Blue Lion was a cozy restaurant set in a small white house. Abbey and Jed dined privately by candlelight out on the patio. It was a lovely warm night, the breeze lightly ruffling their hair and causing the flame to flicker romantically. Always ready, within reason, to experiment with local cuisine, Jed chose to try the grilled elk tenderloin. Abbey was less daring and instead chose the Thai shrimp risotto. 

"You know sometimes I forget just how nice it is to have a meal with you," Abbey sipped her Chardonnay. 

"What do you mean? We eat together most of the time." 

"I'm not talking eating together. I'm talking about dining with you. Just you and me on our own away from the White House. You know, away from the kids and away from interruptions and talk of politics; just you and me discussing music and books and movies and plans for the rest of the summer. It's like being on a date again." 

"Yeah without worrying about the first kiss or what base I might make it to." 

"Is that what you were thinking about when we were dating and went out to dinner? What base I'd let you get to?" 

"No, of course not, dear," Jed backpedaled. "My mind was always on the scintillating conversation." 

"Yeah, sure it was. And here I thought you were so different from other guys." She shook her head sadly. "Now all these years later I find out that you weren't any different from them after all, that you were thinking with your penis, too." 

"Abbey!" Jed glanced around to see if any waiter had caught her last line. When he realized they hadn't, he turned back to her with a sly grin. "God, I love your mouth." 

"No kidding." Abbey slipped a piece of shrimp between her lips, her tongue darting out to lick the sauce off her lips. 

"Yeah, that too," Jed's voice was husky, his mind filled with erotic visions of other nights when she made that move, other nights when it was HE that she was dining on, not shrimp risotto. "But, come on, can you blame me? No man could sit and have dinner with you and not be thinking about how and where he'd like to touch you. I used to try to keep my mind on the conversation but then you'd look at me with those big green eyes and start twirling your hair around your finger and I'd just want to bury my hands in your hair and kiss you. You'd cross your legs and I'd just want to reach out and run my hand up under your skirt. Some things never change." He rested his hand familiarly on her bare knee stroking the smooth skin there. 

"No, I guess they don't." 

"Except that now I know you won't shove my hands away." 

"You sure of that? You're a bit cocky." She clamped her legs primly shut so Jed's hand could not continue its upward movement. 

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty sure. After all, I do have an ego the size of Montana." 

"That you do, my love." With a soft laugh, she lifted her wineglass to him in salute. "That you do." 

**** 

Satiated from their dinner and after dinner drinks, Jed placed a thin rose-colored sweater over Abbey's shoulders and they walked out onto the grass to spend an evening listening to music under the stars at the Grand Teton Music Festival. The music was classical and sitting on their blanket under a tree reminded Abbey of summer nights in the Berkshires listening to the Boston Pops – something she and Jed loved to do when they were back home. 

Jed lay stretched out on the blanket with his head in Abbey's lap and her fingers running through his thick hair. Since becoming President it was so very rare for him to completely relax that it felt odd to be at such peace. Abbey leaned back against the tree gazing up at the big sky and the thousands of sparkling stars. The lovely music filled the night air; the breeze played over her bare skin and Jed's head was heavy in her lap. It was one of those very few perfect moments when all seemed right with the world. She felt a sudden urge to sneak away with Jed deep into the night shadows and make love to him under the stars with the orchestra drowning out their cries of passion. The image of the two of them naked, arms and legs tangled around one another as they strained together under the moon was so vivid it caused Abbey's breath to catch in her throat. 

"Abs, you all right?" Jed looked up at her from her lap. 

"Mmm…" she nodded. "Jed, I want you." 

"What?" Jed turned again, unsure if he'd heard her correctly. While Abbey matched him in the passion department with a sex drive that was just as strong as his, it was usually he who was unable to keep his lust under control. 

"You heard me. I'm just sitting here thinking how much I'd like to be making love with you right now." 

"Okay, let's go." Jed sat up. 

"I didn't mean we have to leave this second," she protested. 

"You can't say something like that to me and expect me to lay underneath this tree listening to music the rest of the night. I'm only human, Abbey." 

Abbey laughed. "Well, I suppose the concert IS almost over. We won't create too much of a stir." 

"If anyone asks, just say the nanny called and said one of the kids doesn't feel well. One of the benefits of having a young child, we always have an excuse to leave early." 

**** 

Back at the cabin, Jed was surprised when Abbey wrenched herself from his embrace and grabbed the heavy quilt that covered their bed tugging it off and into her arms. 

"What are you doing?" There was a distinct sulk in his tone. "I thought you wanted to make love, not do laundry." 

"I did. I do. Part of this erotic little fantasy I've been having all night includes doing this outside." 

"Outside?" Jed was surprised. Abbey had always enjoyed the sensuality of making love out of doors but since becoming First Lady she had become a bit more circumspect about where they had sex. Being trailed by Secret Service agents could definitely put a damper on one's sex life. 

"You got a problem with outside?" She held the quilt tightly to her chest. 

"Me? A problem with where you want to have sex? You sure you remember who you're talking to here?" 

"Yeah, that's what I thought." A big grin spread across her face as Jed grabbed a couple of pillows before following her out to the deck. 

"We have to stay close in case the kids wake up," she told him as she spread the quilt out across the wooden planks of the deck. "In fact, you better shut the drapes." 

"Yeah, wouldn't want any little munchkins wandering out here." 

"No, we wouldn't want that." 

By the time Jed turned back around after fixing the drapes, Abbey had divested herself of her sundress and stood in the moonlight wearing the high cut panties and her lacy bra. 

"I see you're ready to get right down to business tonight." He moved forward reaching a finger out to toy with the tiny gold loop in her naval. 

"You always were a quick study." Her breath caught in her throat as that finger moved to trace along the lace edge of her panties just above her pubic bone. Jed kissed her then, long and hard, his tongue sliding into her mouth as his fingers slid into her panties covering her soft curls with his palm and making her moan. Abbey's fingers tore at the buttons on his shirt impatient to make him as naked as she was. 

Jed's hands gripped the soft flesh of her rear to pull her closer to him and he felt her fingers at the zipper to his pants, felt her shove them down off his hips, her fingers reaching greedily for his penis. She was the aggressor tonight, her hunger as exciting to him as his own. She grabbed his hands pulling him down with her to the blanket and he lay stretched out gazing up at the multitude of stars in the sky while Abbey's lips traced patterns over his chest and his belly sucking and nipping at his skin until he was moaning in near agony. His hips began to move against her soft belly as her lips closed over his flat male nipple. She felt the wetness of him rubbing against her and sat up away from him breaking the contact. With a sensuous smile, she rubbed the liquid of his emission into the softness of her belly then straddled his hips. 

"Abbey…" he groaned as she toyed with him, taking just the tip of him inside her then releasing him. 

Abbey smiled knowing she couldn't toy with him for long, it had been a night of foreplay and she was more than ready for the consummation. She placed her hands on his chest, over his nipples and sank down on him taking his penis full and deep. Her eyes closed at the exquisite sensation of his thickness penetrating her so deeply and she gave a soft sigh of contentment that ended with a sharp gasp of pleasure as he thrust his hips up at her shoving himself even further, all the way to his hilt where pleasure and pain warred together. 

"Oh Gooodddd…" she moaned, as she slid herself back up and down Jed's long length meeting his thrusting hips. She closed her eyes again, living for the moment, the breeze licking at her pebble hard nipples, the scent of pine trees and fresh clean water washing over her. The moment was primal, their mating as natural as God had intended when he created man and woman. 

Jed's eyes moved from the darkened sky to where his hips were joined with his wife's. His hands moved up to cup over her breasts, his fingers playing with her nipples as he watched her head fall back, her bright hair spilling back over her shoulders, the moonlight caressing her nude form. He watched her bite her lower lip as her pleasure grew in intensity, felt her fingernails dig into his ribcage where her hands had been bracing her movements. 

Then, needing more than just the contact where their bodies were joined, Abbey leaned forward placing a hand beside each of Jed's shoulders. Slowly she dangled her breasts over his chest rubbing her sensitized nipples against his chest hair. He groaned loudly as she touched her nipple to his at the same moment that she kissed him, her hair shielding them both from the night enveloping them in the sweet scent of apple blossoms. 

Lying flat against his body now, Abbey was able to move her hips in a faster rhythm grinding herself against him. Jed's hands were gripping her rear pulling her to him harder and faster. Her breath started coming in short little gasps and her climax hit her hard and fast. She came with a harsh cry clenching around Jed like a vice, her movements slowing until she collapsed on him. Jed's hips continued to move slowly against her drawing out her orgasm and causing her breath to catch in her throat with the little aftershocks. But just when she thought it was all over, he rolled her over onto her back pulling her knees up over his hips. She cried out loudly as he surged into her completely and fully, her body still overly sensitized from her climax. As Jed began thrusting vigorously within her, finally able to get the speed and friction and penetration that he needed, her body started to strain for him. Jed felt her calves tighten around his hips, felt her heels digging into his back and her nails into his shoulders. She was gasping his name, her body tightening all over again and just as she cried out, Jed felt everything within him flow to that one carnal spot. He felt himself fill and swell and with a deep animalistic groan into her hair, he came over and over his body pulsating with the strength of his orgasm. 

After a few long moments resting heavily on top of her, Jed had the presence of mind to roll onto his side. Abbey shivered as he withdrew from her body; the air now cool on her sweat dampened skin. 

"Cold?" Jed asked, pushing the hair tenderly back off her face. 

"Mmm…" Her limbs were too languid to move. 

Jed pulled the quilt up around them both and pulled her in close to him, his arms wrapped around her body. They lay together like that tangled in the warmth of each other's arms and in the cocoon of the quilt. Abbey's head lay on Jed's chest, her fingers toying with the silky hair under his arm as she gazed up at the beautiful night sky. 

"Was this what you had in mind when we left the concert?" he asked, his lips nuzzling the top of her head. 

"Absolutely. Better than I'd imagined." 

They were lying quietly then, sleepily; their satiated limbs heavy with fatigue when they heard the haunting, lonely howl of a wolf deep in the woods. Jed felt Abbey shiver. 

"They aren't close," he assured her. 

"I know. It's just such a sad, lonely sound." 

"We should feel a kinship with them. Did you know that when a wolf mates it mates for life." 

"I think I did know that." 

"And speaking of mating for life. Do you realize that it's after midnight?" 

"Well, I believe it is." 

"And do you know what that means?" 

Abbey looked up at him a soft smile curving her lips and love shining in her eyes. 

"Yeah, I do. Happy Anniversary, babe." 


	4. Deliver Us from Evil

Jed stumbled into the kitchen bleary eyed and stiff. He and Abbey had fallen asleep on the deck for a few hours before finally getting up and returning to their bedroom and he was feeling the effects of that this morning. His wife, bless her perky little soul, did not seem to be suffering the same lingering effects. While Nicholas and Aislinn colored at the kitchen table, Abbey stood at the stove wearing a pair of silk Capri pajama bottoms that rode low on her slender hips and a matching camisole top that didn't quite make it to the waist band. Her hair was still a bit mussed and she was singing softly along with the radio while she flipped pancakes. Rumpled and sexy, she was irresistible. Jed approached her from behind wrapping his arms around her waist. 

"Morning," he mumbled sleepily against her neck, his hands sliding up to rub over her breasts. 

"Morning," she smiled leaning back against him secure in the knowledge that they were facing away from the children. Jed nuzzled his unshaven jaw against her soft cheek as he playfully teased her hardening nipples. 

"Uh, enough of that." Abbey pushed his wandering hands down and gazed back over her shoulder to see that the children weren't paying any attention to them. 

"They're oblivious," Jed assured her, but he backed off and moved toward the coffee maker to pour himself a mug. 

"What would you like for breakfast?" 

"Pancake!" Nicholas demanded from the table, as if daring his father to contradict him. 

"Wif smiley face," Aislinn added. 

"I know what YOU two want for breakfast. I was asking Daddy what he wanted." 

"Pancakes with a blueberry smiley face sounds pretty good to me. Count me in." 

"Are we still going for a hike out to the river fly fishing?" Abbey placed the pancakes on a plate and began placing big fat blueberries on the top in the shape of a smiling face. 

"That was the plan. I just have to have my NSA briefing and we can be off. By the time I finish, you should have the kids ready." 

**** 

Abbey did have the children ready by the time Jed had finished with his briefing. They were outside playing with the dogs with their little backpacks already on their backs. 

"Daddy, meeting?" Aislinn asked. 

"Yup." Jed picked her up settling her on his hip. "But no more meetings today. I'll go put my briefcase in the cabin and then we're off." 

"Yay!!!" 

"I'm surprised you didn't try to worm your way out of it," Abbey smirked. "I mean considering how much you enjoy hiking." 

"Abigail, I've always enjoyed hiking with the children. It's YOU I have the problem with." 

"Me?" 

"Yes, you. You're like some kind of Lewis and Clark trailblazer out there. I'm hoping with young children you'll keep the pace down." 

"So, now you're saying you're on pace with two year olds. That's not telling me much about your physical fitness level. Maybe I should start personally seeing to your exercise regimen. I could…" 

"Hah! Nice try, but I think you have better things to do than to be my personal trainer. I swim every morning in the White House pool and I play tennis and basketball." 

"Every once in a while," she snorted derisively. 

"Well, promise me you'll wear one of those tiny little white skirts and I'll play tennis with you every morning." 

"Somehow I doubt your mind would be on the game." 

"Somehow I think you're right." 

**** 

"Look at this, kids. It's a little nest that fell out of the tree." Abbey knelt in the pine needles before her children, a small nest held delicately in the palm of her hand. 

"Birdies?" Aislinn asked poking her finger inside. 

"No, the birdies must have had to make a new home after this one fell." 

Jed scoped the area making sure that his children were not about to get a lesson in the food chain with dead birds lying around. When he was satisfied there were no carcasses, he leaned back against a tree and watched as Abbey allowed the children to touch the nest all the while explaining to them how birds built nests and what they used to make them. Abbey had a way of taking a simple moment and opening up the world to them. She was an absolutely incredible mother, the kind of mother he had never known existed when he was a child and he couldn't have asked for a better woman to be the mother of his children. She spoke to the toddlers in a language that they would understand, yet she never talked down to them. There was a gentleness and a patience with them that was not always exhibited with the adults that surrounded them. 

His wife was as natural a teacher as he was. Of course, it helped when you loved the subject as much as Abbey loved nature. Most of the world knew how much she enjoyed hiking. Her trips into the Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah Valley were legendary but what they didn't know was that it was more than just exercise for her. She could benefit just as much from the treadmills and stepping machines of the White House exercise room as she could hiking down a mountain trail. But, for Abbey that wouldn't be the same. She enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her shoulders and the wind in her face. She enjoyed spotting different bird species flying across the tree limbs, or coming across a fox kit practicing its hunting techniques, or a mama deer and her fawn sipping from mountain stream. It was that love of nature that she had passed on to all of their daughters and was now passing on to their two youngest. And, if the wide interested eyes that Nicholas and Aislinn had glued onto her was any indication, she was doing a fine job with them as well. 

The hike to the river continued to be a walk of discovery. To the children's delight, Abbey found eagle feathers that she passed on to them and later showed them what deer tracks looked like and how to stay away from poison ivy, while Jed yelled for Max and Panda not to chase the rabbits that popped up periodically. As they reached the point high on the ridge that marked where they would begin their descent to the river below, Abbey pointed out a soaring, diving hawk as it made its way gracefully throughout the valley. They followed that hawk, down the twisting path toward the river valley. At the bottom of the ridge was a large grassy meadow dotted with thousands of white daisies. It was the perfect spot for a picnic lunch. 

"You guys ready to eat?" Abbey asked. 

Rubbing dirty, grubby hands over their tired eyes, both children nodded. Jed began to spread out the picnic blanket while Abbey dug in the backpack for the "Wet Ones" so she could clean the kids up for lunch. 

"Well, let's see what we have in here." Jed took the backpack and began pulling out plastic baggies. "Looks like I see peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." 

Aislinn and Nicholas began reaching out with greedy hands for their lunch. Abbey settled them in with their sandwiches and carrot sticks, complete with a container of ranch dressing for dipping, which was the only way Nicholas would eat his carrots. Jed continued to dig in the backpack not all that eager to see what Abbey had ordered for their lunch. His eyes widened with surprise when he opened the top of a plastic container. 

"Cold fried chicken? Oh, BABY, a woman after my own heart. I thought for sure I was going to find some kind of lean turkey sandwich." 

"Well, I figured that technically, it IS our anniversary." 

"Say no more. This is a GREAT anniversary gift." Jed took a ravenous bite out of a piece of chicken looking skyward as if he were in heaven. 

Abbey smiled at his obvious enjoyment of the food and bit into her own drumstick. "Anybody need more lemonade?" 

Nicholas lifted his sippie cup to her at the same time Jed lifted his plastic one. 

"Men," Abbey said, placing her hands on her hips. "What are we going to do with them, Ash? They're always hungry." 

Aislinn giggled at the look on her mother's face, but Nicholas didn't really get that he was being made fun of and he looked up at her nodding. "I still hungwy. Want cookie." 

Abbey chuckled and handed him his lemonade, "No cookies, bud, but I did pack some grapes and strawberries." 

"GWAPES!" 

While the kids picked at a bowl of grapes, Jed began pulling up some of the daisies that grew near their picnic blanket, weaving them together as Abbey had taught him way back when Elizabeth was just a little girl. Intrigued, Aislinn came to sit in front of him watching his every move. 

"What Daddy do?" she asked. 

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be a queen?" 

Aislinn nodded. 

"Well, every queen needs a crown. So, here is yours." Much to Aislinn's delight, Jed set the crown of white flowers on his daughter's head. She got to her feet dancing around spinning circles in the field of daisies, the sunshine playing in her pale blond curls, her soft pink lips smiling with the joy of being alive. Jed felt his throat tighten with the sheer beauty of his child and the love for her that often sent a warmth radiating throughout his body. 

Finally getting dizzy, Aislinn fell to the ground and turned to her father. "Do Mumma," she begged. "Daddy, do Mumma." 

"Okay, okay." Quickly Jed wove the flowers together and set the crown on top of Abbey's bright auburn hair. 

"Mumma pwetty," Aislinn told her. 

"Thanks, sweetie." Abbey did her own twirl in the daisy field. 

"Mumma queen," Nicholas added his two cents. 

"Well then, if I'm the queen, you know what that makes you?" Abbey pulled Aislinn on to her lap. "You're a princess. Princess Aislinn of the Clan Bartlet." 

"Hold on you two, don't move. You look so pretty with those flowers in your hair, I have to get a picture." 

"Me pwincess, Nicky," Aislinn said, while Jed fished for the camera. 

Nicky was too busy finishing off his grapes to worry about whether his sister was a queen or a princess. 

Finally, Jed found the camera and he set his lens on his wife and daughter sitting in the midst of a green field dotted with daisies the bright sun sparkling on the blue river behind them. There were smiles on their faces and white flowers setting prettily on their heads, the breeze catching their respective red and blond curls. He knew right away that the picture would be one for framing and placing on his Oval Office desk. 

With lunch finished, Jed was ready to try his hand at some fly-fishing. Given the opportunity to follow his father or his mother and sister, Nicholas opted to take his father's hand. Abbey watched them walk away a fishing pole over Jed's shoulder and Nicky's little hand in his. Like Andy Taylor and Opie she thought with an affectionate smile, then turned to gather up the gold mining pans they had bought for the kids in Jackson Hole and she and Aislinn set out for the river themselves. 

Nicholas stood near his father listening to Jed's explanations of the art of fly-fishing but found that it wasn't nearly as exciting as being on a boat fishing. After wading in the cold mountain water for about fifteen minutes and splashing Max and Panda when they got too close, he wandered over to where his mother and Aislinn were panning for gold near the rivers edge. Sifting through the gravelly river bottom for gold proved to be a lot more fun than fly-fishing and they spent the next hour so engaged. 

**** 

"You're sure he said casual?" Abbey called out to Jed who was already dressed in jeans and an oatmeal colored shirt and was seated in front of the coffee table playing solitaire. 

"For the tenth time, YES, he said casual jeans and stuff. It's a barn dance." 

"Well, it may be a barn dance but who knows what Hollywood stars will be there. He IS Harrison Ford, after all." 

"Yes, and you're much too excited about the prospect of spending an evening with him. He only PLAYED the President. I AM the President." 

"Are you pouting?" Abbey pulled on a pair of faded Calvin Kleins that hugged her curves in all the right places. 

"Should I be looking forward to spending the evening watching my wife drool over a man who is her favorite actor on our ANNIVERSARY?" 

"Jed…baby…" She sat on his lap in her jeans and bra wrapping her arms around his neck. "How many times have I told you that Harrison Ford is the only man I'd ever leave you for?" 

"You're not making me feel better," he sulked. 

Abbey smiled and ran a finger over his furrowed brow. "And how many hundreds of times have I told you that I will never, ever leave you. So, there you have it, nothing to worry about. Feel better?" 

"Slightly. But, you're still way too excited about this evening." 

"Of course, I'm excited. I'm meeting Harrison Ford, for heaven's sake. I am only human, after all. But, and if you tell him this I'll have to kill you, he ain't got nothin' on you in the looks department." She grinned and kissed his chin before rising to her feet to finish dressing. 

"Well, I KNEW that," Jed sniffed. 

**** 

The lights of the Ford ranch were ablaze as the presidential motorcade pulled up the long drive. As the doors to the sedan were opened, they could hear the music spilling from the open barn doors and people were milling about moving from the barn to the house. All activity came to a standstill, however, when they realized that the President had arrived. Ford had obviously been waiting for them for he was the first to approach just as Jed was stepping out of the car. 

"Mr. President, glad that you could make it." 

"We were pleased to be invited." Jed shook his hand. "Looks like you have quite a party going on here." 

"We do it once a year, nothing fancy as you can see." At that point, Abbey had come around the side of the car and stepped up to Jed's side. "Mr. Ford, my wife, Abigail Bartlet." 

"Harrison Ford." Harrison stretched his hand out to the President's pretty wife and Abbey shook it. 

"I know who you are," she smiled. 

Jed could swear that Harrison was blushing. "I guess you probably do. Well, it's very nice to meet you, ma'am." 

"Please, call me Abbey." 

"Abbey it is then. Please come inside and get some refreshments." 

Jed took Abbey's hand and began leading her in following well behind their host. 

"'Please, call me Abbey'…" Jed softly mimicked her tone. "Honestly, if you tell me you're never washing that hand again, I think I'll puke." 

"Jed, I was putting him at ease, being the gracious First Lady that I am." 

"You were flirting with him." 

"You think that was flirting? Honey, that wasn't anything, you just watch me." 

"Abbey," Jed squeezed her elbow in warning. "Don't even think about it." 

"Jed, you can't be serious. You are not that much of an ape to…" Abbey trailed off as she saw the humor dancing in her husband's eyes. "You're TEASING me." She was astonished. 

"Well, to quote my esteemed wife. You are so HEARTBREAKINGLY easy." 

"I can't believe that you were pretending to be jealous. It was all pretend, wasn't it?" 

"Well, maybe not all of it," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "Just remember whose girl you are." He placed a proprietary hand on her hip. 

"As if I could forget." She smiled up at him, that special smile meant for his eyes only. With that smile, a warm glow filled his chest. She might dance with Harrison Ford and half a dozen other Hollywood stars, but she was going home with him and that made all the difference in the world. 

**** 

As the evening progressed, Abbey did get a chance to dance with Harrison, but most of the time she just seemed to whirl from partner to partner to the upbeat country music the band was playing. She and Jed even got lessons in line dancing; something Abbey still hadn't gotten the hang of after her brief lessons in Texas. Jed was even worse. 

"I just don't think this kind of dancing is in our genetic make up," he laughed as he made the wrong turn and bumped into Abbey for the fifth time. Abbey was laughing, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. She was having a good time. It gave him a pang to think that he rarely saw her like this anymore unless they were with their family. Everything in Washington was so serious, so riddled with protocol. It was nice to see her let her hair hang down and just be the free spirited Abbey that she'd been before becoming First Lady. 

"Maybe not." For Abbey, it was fun, but she longed for dancing as she knew it. She didn't have long to wait. As the song ended, Harrison took the stage and the microphone. 

"It has come to my attention that tonight is a special night for our guests of honor. President and Mrs. Bartlet are celebrating an anniversary and the President has requested a special dance with his wife. So, let me just be the first to congratulate them on their remarkable marriage and to wish them many, many more years. Happy Anniversary." He lifted his glass in a salute that was echoed throughout the room. 

Abbey smiled up at Jed as the slow familiar music started and a female singer took the microphone. Returning her smile, Jed held out his hand taking hers and pulling her in close to his chest, her hips up flush against his. Abbey lay her cheek against his shoulder, probably more intimately than a First Lady should in public, but this was her anniversary and this was her man. She felt Jed's arms go around her, his hand resting at the base of her spine, probably more intimately than a President should in public, but this was his anniversary and she was his woman. His cheek nuzzled into her hair and sentimental tears burned at Abbey's closed eyelids as she listened to the words the woman was singing for just the two of them. 

> _I'll always remember,_  
>  the song they were playing,   
> The first time we danced and I knew   
> As we swayed to the music,   
> and held to each other,   
> I fell in love with you. 
> 
> Could I have this dance   
> for the rest of my life,   
> Could you be my partner   
> every night,   
> when we're together   
> it feels so right,   
> Could I have this dance   
> for the rest of my life? 
> 
> I'll always remember,   
> that magic moment,   
> When I held you close to me   
> As we move together,   
> I knew forever,   
> you're all I'll ever need. 
> 
> Could I have this dance   
> for the rest of my life,   
> Could you be my partner   
> every night,   
> when we're together   
> it feels so right,   
> Could I have this dance   
> for the rest of my life?

**** 

Back at the cabin, a fire burned in the grate, soft music played on the radio, two wine glasses sat abandoned on the coffee table and Abbey and Jed were on the couch wrapped in each other's arms, reluctant to let the romantic evening come to an end. Jed was tracing the outline of Abbey's lips with his tongue, his kisses soft, gentle, absolutely exquisite, and so entirely different from last night's ravenous hunger. Tonight was all about romance and sensation. His lips traced along her jaw and down her neck then back again to taste her mouth and draw a response that had her arching into him and rubbing her face against his rough jawline. Her fingers nimbly worked the buttons on his shirt slipping inside to caress the warmth of his chest. His kisses grew deeper then and he pressed her back into the couch, his hands moving up under her shirt and over her ribcage to cup her breasts. He covered her then, kissing her as he worked at the zipper of her jeans. It was feeling his fingers sliding inside her jeans and her panties that brought some measure of sanity back to Abbey's clouded mind. 

"Not here, Jed." 

"What?" He looked up at her with slumberous confused eyes. 

"We can't do this here." She scooted out from underneath his body shoving her shirt back down but not buttoning her jeans. "The kids could walk in here anytime. Let's take it to the bedroom." She reached her hand out to him and helped him to his feet. 

Jed was so aroused it damn near hurt him to walk. "You scared me for a minute there, hot stuff. I can do the bedroom. Some of my best work has been done in the bedroom." He followed her toward the room in question. 

"Oh yeah?" Abbey looked back at him over her shoulder with a flirtatious glint in her eye. "Prove it." 

"Is that a challenge?" 

"You up for it." 

Jed gazed down at the straining bulge in his jeans. "Oh, yeah, baby. I am CERTAINLY up for it!" 

Laughing like newlyweds, the Bartlets raced into their bedroom, their laughter soon replaced by moans and heavy breathing as the President proved to his First Lady that he was definitely UP for the task at hand. 

**** 

"Mr. McGarry?" Ron gave the President's Chief of Staff a puzzled look as his car pulled up to Bartlet cabin's checkpoint. "The President didn't say you were on your way." 

"The President didn't know I was coming. You better get everyone prepared to head out tonight. The President is needed back in Washington." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Is he at the cabin?" 

"He and Mrs. Bartlet went to the resort to play tennis this morning but they did say they were going to stay close to the cabin this afternoon. Little Aislinn was feeling a bit under the weather." 

"I hope it's nothing serious." 

"I think Mrs. Bartlet said something about teething." 

"Ah," Leo grinned. "That's not so bad then. I'll go see if I can find them." 

Leo made his way to the cabin but was shushed out by Izzy who told him the children were napping and that the President and the First Lady were out reading on the hammock down by the lake. By the time Leo found them, they were no longer reading. Their books lay on the ground beneath the hammock and they were sound asleep in each other's arms. Leo stood for a moment watching them with that familiar twinge of tenderness and envy. Abbey's head was pillowed on Jed's shoulder, one arm flung across his chest one leg drawn up over his hips her knee resting at his groin. Jed's face was nestled in her hair, one hand loosely cupped over her breast. It was very telling that even in sleep they clung to one another. As Leo stood silently, Abbey moved in her sleep sliding her thigh almost imperceptibly over Jed's. His response was to flex his hand over Abbey's breast squeezing her and drawing a soft sigh from her parted lips. It was that sigh that yanked Leo out of his stupor, guilt flushing his face at having been privy to such an intimate moment. 

Leo made his way to Jed's side of the hammock studiously avoiding watching where his hand was still flexing intermittently over the mound of Abbey's breast. "Mr. President," he whispered softly. He didn't get a response. "Mr. President…" It was a little louder this time and Jed sniffed stretching his arm out to reveal the pebble hard nipple his caresses had created and that was now straining against Abbey's tank top. Leo swallowed tightly and hoped that he was waking up. Jed didn't wake up, his hand simply resettled, this time on his wife's shapely rear. Abbey pushed her hips involuntarily against Jed's thigh at the touch of his hands and Leo had had all he could take. 

"Mr. President!" It was said more sharply and definitely more loudly than he had planned. 

"WHAT THE HELL!" Jed bolted upright causing the precarious balance he and Abbey had settled into to give way and the hammock flipped dangerously to the left tipping out first Jed onto the bed of pine needles, then Abbey on top of him. 

"What in God's name?!" Abbey awoke with a start sprawled on top of Jed who was lying on his back on the forest floor. Stunned eyes of blue and green turned Leo's way. 

"Uh, sorry." Leo gave them a sheepish half smile. "I was just trying to wake you up." 

"By giving me a heart attack?" Jed got to his feet brushing the pine needles from his shorts and picking them out of Abbey's hair. 

"Sorry, I didn't realize how dangerous those things are." 

"Leo, what are you doing here?" Abbey hated the irritated tone to her voice but she knew deep in her heart that Leo's arrival could only be bad news for the rest of their vacation. 

"I'm here because there's trouble. Mr. President, you need to come back to Washington. Tonight." 


	5. Deliver Us from Evil

"Okay, so tell me what's so bad that I have to go rushing back to Washington." Jed, Abbey and Leo sat out on the deck, Jed and Abbey nursing bottles of lime filled Coronas and Leo sipping his Perrier. 

"It's Hoynes. He's been leaking things to the press. It was he who leaked the NASA Mars information." 

"Why the hell would he do that?" Jed took a pull from his beer. "What leverage does he gain?" 

"He gets to look like a big shot in the eyes of his mistress." 

"Whoa, whoa, back up. He's leaking information because of a mistress?" 

"No, he's been leaking information TO his mistress and his mistress has been passing it along to the press." 

"Are you sure about this, Leo?" Abbey asked. "I mean we aren't talking National Enquirer stuff here, are we? There are always impressionable young women who specifically come to Washington to 'make it' with the powerful politicians. Are you sure this girl was even his mistress?" Abbey's heart was aching for Suzanne Hoynes and she was praying that, despite John's reputation, this was all a mistake. 

"Oh, this was no impressionable young girl making something out of nothing. Our Vice President has been passing the time with none other than Helen Baldwin." 

"Helen Baldwin?!" Abbey was surprised. She had met Helen on a few occasions. Helen was one of those members of wealth and society that seem to live for nothing but schmoozing with the powerful elite. It didn't surprise her that Helen was carrying on with a member of the government; what did surprise her was that John was fooling around with her. Helen was no young bimbo; she was a woman the same age as her and Suzanne. 

"She hardly seems like the type that John would have an indiscretion with," Jed added his own disbelief. 

"Oh, this was no brief indiscretion. This has been going on for a while. John admitted everything when Josh confronted him with all the phone calls he'd made to her from the White House." 

"He called her from the WHITE HOUSE?!" Jed fumed with indignation. "Damn him, he ought to have more respect for the office than that!" 

"Jed." Abbey touched his elbow in an effort to keep his temper from exploding. 

"Yes, he called her from the White House and apparently he keeps her in an apartment in Georgetown. He's admitted all of it, including the fact that he's told her all kinds of stuff – true and untrue – to make himself look good and now she's writing a tell all book." 

"Oh, this just gets better and better. What kind of woman would do that?" 

"The kind of woman who fucks a married man," Abbey said bitterly. "That stupid son of a bitch. We warned him he was going to get himself into trouble." 

"What?" Leo looked puzzled. "You knew about this?" 

"Not this incident, but we'd heard the rumors and we kind of experienced the real John last summer campaigning in Texas." 

"It's a long story." Abbey's eyes urged Jed not to go on. 

"We have a while until Air Force One is ready to go. Why don't you tell me." 

"It was nothing really," Abbey tried to brush it off. 

Jed knew Leo well enough to know that he would not drop it. "Abbey and I were fooling around in John and Suzanne's garden the night of the big fundraiser and Abbey couldn't find…well, part of her undergarments. So, she had to go back the next morning to look for it." 

"Hoynes had already found it," Abbey said. 

"What kind of undergarment are we talking here?" There wasn't much that his two best friends could do anymore that would shock him. 

"A thong," Jed was so matter of fact it took Leo a moment to register what he said, but when he did his mind immediately pictured Abbey in a sexy thong and his face burned red. 

Well, he amended to himself, there were still a few things that could surprise if not shock him. And picturing Abbey Bartlet naked in John Hoynes' garden save for a thong was one of them. "So, he, uh, found your thong. What happened then?" 

"Nothing really, Leo. He just taunted me a bit with it. Made it very clear that if I were so inclined, he was very interested." 

"That BASTARD!" Leo spat. "How DARE he insult you like that!" 

"It's okay, Leo. Jed took care of it." 

"What did you do to him?" He turned to Jed wondering how all of this had gone on under his nose without his knowledge. 

"I went to the house, shoved him into a wall and told him if he so much as looked at my wife again he was off the ticket. He got the hint." 

"So, evidently our Vice President is a bit of a whore." Abbey sucked on her wedge of lime. "Not only does he have a wife AND a mistress, but he's also doing other women as well." 

"How are we going to deal with this, Leo?" 

"We're already re-elected. This is going to hurt him far worse than it will hurt us. The most it will affect us is in being a distraction and, of course, the Republicans will love making you either have to denounce him or condone his behavior." 

"I don't CONDONE his behavior, Leo. You KNOW that. It's reprehensible. But, it's also a matter that should be privately dealt with by John and Suzanne only. His sex life, as disgusting as it may be, is nobody else's business." 

"I agree, but Ms. Baldwin is making it everyone's business." 

"Well, we aren't going to solve anything here. When can I see him?" 

"He's talking to Suzanne right now. As soon as we get back, he'll come to see you." 

"I better go help Izzy pack the kids stuff." Abbey stood and threw her bottle in the trash. 

"Abbey, you don't have to come. Stay here and enjoy the rest of the week with the kids." 

"I want to go back. Suzanne is going to need some heavy-duty emotional support. I'd like to be there for her. I can't even imagine what she is going through right now, having her husband telling her all about his mistress. I mean that's just got to destroy her." Abbey shuddered at the thought. 

**** 

Jed and Leo were out on the portico when John Hoynes finally approached them. 

"You've talked to Suzanne?" Jed asked. His heart still bled for what this man had done to that decent, kind woman. 

"I'm sorry, sir?" John looked puzzled. It was not the first question he had expected the President to ask. 

"You've talked to Suzanne?" 

"Yeah." 

"What happened?" Leo asked, clearly ready to get right to the heart of the matter. 

"You know what happened." 

"Tell me again. How many times? When did it start?" 

"I don't think it matters." John was clearly not comfortable discussing this with them. 

"I'll tell you what, Mr. Vice President. For this moment, tonight, I'm going to be in charge of deciding what matters. Forty-seven phone calls? Did you not know that the White House keeps records of phone calls? Did you not know that? How many times? When did it start?" 

"It is none of your business." John was not going to discuss this with someone whom he felt was underneath him on the chain of command. But for the moment, the President appeared to be letting Leo take control of the situation. 

"I'm about to read about it in a book." 

"Then read about it!" John spat. 

"Didn't it ever occur to you that she might do this?" 

"No. I didn't think she would." 

"You were wrong." Jed stated flatly. He hated having this discussion. Adultery hurt everyone involved – the wife, the children, and, in this case, the entire credibility of his White House. He had spent his entire life committed to the vows that he had made Abbey on their wedding day. Given easy opportunity, he had always remained faithful to her and he was proud of that. He did not like being tarred with the same brush as John Hoynes. 

"Do you think there's anyone else behind this?" Leo asked. For Leo the question was not the morality of what John had done but simply how to fight back. 

"I don't know." 

"Do you think she may have been coached by Republican Leadership?" 

"I don't know." 

"John, if we are going to weather this, then we're going to have to... " 

"We're not going to weather this." 

"We will." 

"We won't. I'm resigning." 

"If we're going to do this, we've got to start tonight, now, and I need you thinking now and not giving up..." Jed wasn't happy with what John Hoynes had done – was in fact thoroughly pissed at him for dragging them through the mud – but he also did not believe that what his Vice President did in his personal life was cause for him to leave his job. 

"Yes, sir, I'm resigning the Vice Presidency." 

"What about 'It's none of your business?'" 

"I leaked classified information. It is their business. It's also a felony." 

"Are you in a position to deny it?" Leo asked. 

"No." 

"She's made a seven-figure book deal. She's not going to have a lot of credibility." 

"Well, since when does she need credibility?" 

"Apologize and move on. Accept responsibility. You don't need to disclose details. She's going to take care of that for you. You're going to be the dinner special for two months, and then you've got two and half years to get the nomination." Jed knew as well as most Americans that many of their greatest leaders had not been saints, had had affairs. He didn't consider John to be a great leader but he still truly did not believe that the man should give up all he had worked so hard to achieve simply because he had a mistress and that mistress was writing a kiss and tell. 

"I'm not getting the nomination." 

"In the middle of M.S., it looked like we were never going to recover, and we did." Jed tried to buck the man up. 

"Which is why it is never going to happen again…. That was it. That was the one you get." 

"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Vice President, if my multiple sclerosis was a bummer for your sex life." Jed's carefully controlled anger began to rear its ugly head. "How the hell did you do this to us?! You can't resign, John. It's a terrible signal to send." 

"Sir, if I stay, it sabotages an entire agenda, and you know I'm right, and the party's going to need a candidate that can win. And I think the least I think I can do for Suzanne is not to drag her through it so much." 

Jed knew that he was right, that it was the only honorable thing to do, given the enormity of what he had done to his family. "Is there more? Is there another shoe, 'cause if it's a series of..." Jed knew damn well there were more; there had to be more and they would all come crawling out as soon at that book hit the shelves of the local bookstores. 

"I'd imagine she's going to describe... " 

"You're still going to get dragged through it. It's not going to change anything. Only now, you're going to be out there alone, with no mechanism or apparatus for a comeback." Leo knew the press wouldn't let it go even if Hoynes did resign. 

"Leo..." 

"Which I'm telling you, you can do. You can make it. I can help you." 

"I don't want to take my family through it." 

"You're a giant, John. You're a U.S. Senator, the Vice-President of the United States, and presumptive nominee of your party. You cannot be taken down by this... cheap person and her customers huddled around Macy's window waiting for someone to turn themselves inside out. It's cause for divorce, not resignation. You cannot be taken down by this cheap person." 

Jed looked contemplative and John knew exactly what he was thinking. That "that woman" was not the only "cheap" person in this affair. It took two to tango and he was just as much to blame as Helen was. "The President knows I'm right. So do you. The truth is, I took an oath, too... so... " 

"Didn't you have any sense that this was the kind of person who would do this?" Jed had no idea of what kind of woman would shack up with a married man and then turn around and sell all the lurid details to the world. It was truly beyond his comprehension. 

"Hasn't it been your experience that they look pretty much like the people who wouldn't?" 

"Well, I want you to sleep on it. I want all of us to sleep on it." 

"Thank you, Mr. President." John turned to leave. 

"John," Jed stopped him in midstride. 

"Yes, sir?" 

"Can I just ask you, why?" 

"Why, sir?" 

"You have a lovely wife, a lovely home. You have two great kids. You're the Vice President of the United States with a great chance to be President some day. Why would you piss that all away for a few thrills with another woman?" 

"I didn't think I'd get caught." 

"Excuse me?" That was clearly not the answer that Jed was looking for. 

"I guess I wanted my cake and to eat it, too. Only in my case the cake got shoved in my face." John turned and this time left for good. 

**** 

Abbey arrived at the Vice President's mansion in an unmarked car with little overt Secret Service presence. She did NOT want the press making a huge deal out of her visit to see Suzanne. The butler answered the door and led Abbey into the sitting room. Suzanne was standing by the fireplace and when she turned to see Abbey as she entered the room, the ravages of the day were imprinted on her face. Her slightly puffy eyes belied the fact that she had been crying although she was now doing her best to remain poised. 

"Suzanne?" Abbey moved forward to take the other woman's hands in hers. 

"I take it you've heard." 

"Yes, I'm so sorry. If there is anything that I can do…" 

"Castrate my husband?" 

"Well, I can't say that he wouldn't deserve it." 

"I just can't believe it. He promised me. He PROMISED me that all of this was behind us. That once we got here to Washington he would be turning over a new leaf." 

"I take it Hel… that she wasn't the first." 

Suzanne gave a half smile of thanks for Abbey's sensitivity at not using the "other" woman's name. Just hearing it caused the bile to rise in her throat. 

"No, she wasn't the first." 

"And you KNEW about these other women? God, Suzanne, how could you live with that?" 

"At first I thought they were just rumors. You know how rumors go when it comes to a handsome politician. Every pretty girl they shake hands with is suddenly their mistress. I believed John when he told me they were only rumors. But, then I caught him in the act. Right in my garden, right where you and the Pres…" Suzanne cut herself off abruptly. 

"Ah, so you heard about that," Abbey smiled trying to put her at ease. 

"At least it was YOU that your husband was with. My husband was with a nineteen year old campaign worker when I caught him with his pants down." 

Abbey sucked in her breath and took Suzanne's hand. She didn't know what she would have done, how she would have lived with finding Jed in a similar situation. "I can't imagine what that must have been like for you." 

"Finding your husband screwing another woman does something to you," she said bitterly. "It strips you of everything you ever believed about yourself, about your husband, about your marriage. It was hell. I freaked out, absolutely went nuts. I told him I was filing for divorce and that I was taking the children away from him and that it was completely and totally over." 

"What happened? Why did you stay with him?" 

"Because I loved him." Suzanne's eyes were swimming with tears. "My children were still in school and I just couldn't destroy my family. John promised me; he promised me he'd turn over a new leaf and there would be no other women. I was such a gullible fool to believe him." 

"You're not a fool, Suzanne. You're a forgiving, loving person who got duped." 

"THREE YEARS, Abbey. He's been keeping her for THREE YEARS. All those nights when he was supposedly at staff meetings or embassy functions; all those weekends I went home to Texas, he was THERE. He was there at THEIR apartment fucking her," Suzanne started to cry then and Abbey pulled her gently into her arms. 

"What did I do wrong?" she sobbed. "Was I not sexy enough? Was I not good enough in bed? Did I not make him feel good about himself or that he was the most important person in the world to me? WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!" 

"It's going to be okay, Suzanne, really it is. You'll get through this." 

"I know," Suzanne sniffed, pulling out of Abbey's embrace. "I lived it through it once, I guess I can live through it again. It's just, oh, God, Abbey, I have to tell my CHILDREN that their father has been having an affair with another woman. I have to live with this humiliation. It's going to be all over newspapers, magazines and tabloids. The whole WORLD is going to know." 

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you going to do, Suzanne?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"About your marriage." 

"Do you mean am I going to weather the storm and then divorce John when the job is over?" 

"I don't know. Is that what you intend to do?" Abbey knew she would not be able to sleep in the same bed with Jed – be married to him if had betrayed her in such a manner. 

"I don't have to worry about it. John is resigning." 

"He's resigning?!" Abbey's eyes widened with surprise. 

"Yes, he's telling the President right now." 

"But, why? Other politicians have weathered the storm." 

"With their wives by their side." 

"You're leaving him?" 

"No, I gave him a choice. John wants the Presidency so bad he can taste it. I don't want the complete humiliation and degradation of living in the Capitol when this story breaks, so I made him a deal. If he quits now, I won't divorce him and if things settle down in couple years, he may be able to make a comeback and run again." 

"And you can live with that? You can live with the adultery?" 

"I don't have much choice. My life is completely tied up with John. I can't give that all up and I won't give THAT TRAMP the satisfaction of making me give it all up." 

"You're a strong woman, Suzanne. If Jed and I can ever help you in any way." 

"That question of castration is still on the table." 

Abbey took Suzanne's hand the two shared a sad weary smile. 

**** 

Abbey returned to the Residence to find Jed and Leo sitting in the living room watching a baseball game and weighing their options. 

"Well, how did it go?" Jed asked, seeing her pale, tired face. 

"Well, it certainly wasn't fun. I'd love to castrate John just as Suzanne asked me to." Abbey kicked off her shoes wearily and moved to sit down next to her husband on the couch. 

"Well, if it's any consolation he's trying to do the honorable thing." 

Abbey had started to tuck her legs up underneath her and curl up to Jed's side but instead she pulled back with indignation. "Honorable! How can you even use that word to describe any part of John Hoynes? That man has been cheating on Suzanne for ages, from a nineteen year old campaign workers to Helen Baldwin." 

Jed winced. Men could be such dogs and he was one of them. He didn't particularly like the association at the moment. "She knew?" 

"Some of it. She didn't know about Helen. John was supposedly a 'new man' after she caught him with the campaign worker and threatened him with divorce. Let me ask you, Jed. Did you know about Helen?" 

"Would I have been as shocked if I had?" 

"I don't mean that it was Helen, _per se_. Did you know John was tomcatting around Washington?" 

"No," he said truthfully. "I heard the rumors, of course, but you know there are always rumors." 

"I guess we should have known that where there is smoke there is fire. You know when I was campaigning, I met a woman who was stunned that in four years there hadn't been a hint of sexual scandal to your name – well, unless you count the stuff the two of us have been nailed for. She was SURPRISED because I think most people by now believe all politicians and people in power behave that way. And do you know why? Because of people like John Hoynes. I tried to tell her that there were plenty of good faithful men in the House and in the Senate – many terrific marriages. But who's going to believe that? Nobody hears about them, because morality and faithfulness is BORING and because it doesn't sell magazines." 

"Until you run for office," Jed reminded her. "Then you better make sure your private life can live up to the scrutiny." 

"It's why people have such a warped view. They only get to see the bad. They never see the good. And that is because of selfish bastards like John Hoynes." 

"I agree with you, Abbey. What I meant by honorable is that at least he is putting his family first. He's resigning the Vice Presidency so Suzanne and the kids won't get dragged through the mud for quite so long and so the administration won't get sidetracked." 

"Don't let him fool you, sweetheart," Abbey sniffed derisively. "He's giving it up because Suzanne is making him. She gave him an ultimatum, either they leave and try to regroup in a few years or she is out the door." 

"That son of a bitch!" Jed slammed his glass on the coffee table with more force than he'd planned. "He had me BELIEVING that he cared about his family; that he was putting them and this administration first, when all he was doing was plotting a new way to get the PRESIDENCY!" 

"Jed…stop," Abbey gently grabbed his arm and nodded toward the doorway. Nicholas was standing there wearing just his pajama top and a diaper, his eyes wide and the fingers of one hand in his mouth. Tigger was dangling listlessly from his fingertips to the floor. 

"Hey, Nicky, what are you doing up?" Jed consciously softened his tone. 

"Daddy mad?" The little boy sounded wary and Jed didn't want that in any way associated with him. 

"Not at you, little guy. Come here." Jed opened his arms and Nicky clambered up into his lap. "Daddy's not mad at anyone here." He kissed the top of the boy's head. 

Leo smiled, tender warmth filling his chest. The child really did look like his father and it was a joy to watch Jed with his children, to watch the love and affection that softened him when he was in their presence. A joy Abbey obviously shared because she, too, was smiling tenderly at the duo, her own hand running up and down Nicky's forearm. 

"I just don't understand it, Abbey," Jed continued to stroke Nicky's hair and kiss the top of his head. "Why would a man take a chance with losing his family?" 

"I don't know, Jed." Abbey took his hand. "I'll just be forever grateful that you've never taken a chance with yours." 


	6. Deliver Us from Evil

The door to the bathroom stood slightly ajar giving Jed a great vantage point with which to watch his family bathe. Abbey sat in the back of the bathtub spiking Aislinn's hair with shampoo while Nicholas squirted the white tile sides with blue Sesame Street foam soap. God, how he'd missed them. Abbey had taken the children up to Maine for the vacation week they were all supposed to share with Liz, Annie, Gus, Doug and Zoey, but he'd had to stay behind and deal with the Vice Presidential crisis. Abbey had offered to stay behind with him but he hated the idea of disappointing the family by keeping Abbey and the kids away, too. Also, he knew how much fun the twins always had at the beach. 

Still, he'd missed the sound of his family's laughter, their noise and their chatter. He hated the silence of the Residence when Abbey and the kids were gone, hated coming home at the end of the day and not finding anyone waiting to see him. When they were gone, it felt like living in a museum. It was their presence that made it a home. So, when Charlie had told him that they'd finally returned this evening, he had quickly finished the last of his work so he could return home. 

A chuckle slipped from his lips as he watched Nicholas turn his attention to making up Abbey's face with the foam soap making lines over her cheeks and chin. His chuckle drew their attention and broad smiles beamed across all three faces. 

"Daddy, Daddy!" Wet and soapy Nicholas and Aislinn stood and tried to climb over the side of the tub. 

"Oh, no, you don't!" Abbey grabbed their slippery bodies pulling them back into the tub. "You need to rinse off before you get out." 

"We comed back," Nicholas told Jed. 

"I see that." Jed began rolling up his sleeves then knelt beside the tub to help rinse the kids off. "I missed you guys." 

"I misted you, too. Daddy, wead story," Aislinn demanded, then giggled as she dabbed Jed's nose with the bubble gum scented bubbles. 

"You think that's funny, do you, missy?" Jed's tone was menacing and Aislinn shrieked with fearful delight as he grabbed her and began dabbing her nose and cheeks with the bubbles. 

"Okay, okay," Abbey was the voice of reason as water began to splash all over the floor with their antics. "Aislinn, let Daddy rinse the shampoo out of your hair." 

"No winse." Aislinn hated having the shampoo rinsed from her hair. 

"I promise I won't get any your eyes," Jed assured her. A veteran of keeping soap out of eyes, he reached for a face cloth and held it tightly over his little girl's eyes while he rinsed her hair. 

Abbey splashed her face with water then turned to Jed. "Am I all clear or do I still look like a Smurf?" 

"Whas smoof, Mumma?" Nicky asked. 

"Ask Zoey," Abbey tweaked his nose. "She used to love the Smurfs." 

"They were little blue people," Jed said as he began toweling Aislinn off to lift her out of the tub. 

"Boo peoples?" Aislinn was intrigued. "Scawy boo peoples." 

"Well, now that I think about it they were pretty scary." 

"Oh, Jed," Abbey slapped his wrist. "They were not scary." 

Jed laughed and lifted Nicholas out of the tub then turned his attention back to Abbey. "Does Mommy need any rinsing off?" 

"Mommy can do quite well on her own, thank you." Abbey began releasing the water so she could take a quick shower to rinse off the kid's bubble bath and foam soap. 

"Daddy hep, Mumma." Aislinn picked up the wet facecloth off the floor and handed it to her father so he would have something to cover her mother's eyes. 

"Yes, let Daddy help, Mumma." Jed dangled the facecloth in front of her. 

"Nice try," she laughed. "Go get the kids ready for bed and I'll be out in a minute." Abbey stood and started to reach for the shower door. 

Aislinn looked up at her mother and turned to Jed. "Mumma gots big boobies." 

"Why, yes, she does," Jed grinned lasciviously at Abbey who rolled her eyes at him. 

"I gots wittle boobies," Aislinn pressed her fingertips into her chest. 

"Right now you do," Jed admitted as he finished toweling her off. 

"I go up 'n get big boobies." Aislinn looked to Abbey for confirmation that what her mother had told her earlier was the truth. Abbey smiled reassuringly at her and nodded. 

"Let's not try to rush things, sunshine. Daddy has enough problems without thinking about you being old enough to have boobies. Now, let's go read a story." 

"TINKERBELLE!" Aislinn raced naked toward the nursery with glee. Nicholas was already there waiting with _Peter Pan_ , their new favorite book of the week. 

"Diapers and PJ's first," Jed told them. He reached first into Aislinn's dresser pulling out a yellow nightgown with Snow White on the front. 

"No! No, Daddy. Cindwella." 

"What?" 

"Me want CINDWELLA!" 

"Okay, I get it. Snow White isn't cutting it, eh?" 

Aislinn shook her head, then smiled with delight when her father pulled out her favorite pink Cinderella nightgown. 

With Aislinn ready for bed, Jed turned to where Nicholas was sitting on the floor patiently waiting for his turn. "What about you, slugger? What PJ's do you want to wear?" 

Nicholas shrugged his indifference and Jed gave him a puzzled a look. Nicholas could be just as demanding as Aislinn when it came to wearing what he wanted. Usually, it was SpongeBob for him. 

"Okay, I'll pick 'em." He pulled out a pair of Spider Man pajamas and lifted Nicholas to his feet to dress him for bed. Nicholas sniffled a couple of times and when Jed wiped his nose, he could feel the warmth of the boy's skin. 

"Aislinn, come here." He placed one hand on Nicky's forehead and one on Aislinn's. 

"What's wrong?" Abbey came into the room in her robe drying her hair with a big white towel. 

"His nose is running and he feels warm to me." 

"I think he's coming down with a summer cold. He's been running a low grade fever all afternoon." 

"I should have known Doctor Mom would be all over this," Jed grinned her way. 

"Well, you did remind me that I need to give him his Tylenol. Nicky, come here and let me give you your medicine." 

While Abbey gave Nicholas his liquid Tylenol, Jed settled into the glider rocker with Aislinn. 

"Wait! Daddy, wait! My bankie!" 

"What?" 

"I NEEDS my bankie!" She squirmed off his lap and raced to the crib that had been transformed into a toddler bed and grabbed the worn pink, blue and yellow receiving blanket that she had come home from the hospital in. 

"All set?" Jed asked her. 

"All set," she agreed, clambering up into his lap and immediately began to toy with his glasses pulling them further down his nose until they fell off. 

"You can't play with my glasses, Ash. Daddy can't read this tiny writing about Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle without them." 

"Okay, Daddy." Aislinn clumsily pushed them back up in place poking him in the eye a time or two then snuggled up against him to listen to the story. Feeling the effects of his fever, Nicholas was content to stay curled up on his mother's lap sucking his thumb and twisting a strand of her wet hair around his finger. 

When the story was finished, Aislinn was determined to prolong the evening. "Me watch Pooh." She was looking directly at Abbey knowing very well that her mother never allowed them to watch a movie after storytime. The challenging was already starting. 

"No Pooh, Aislinn. It's bedtime." 

Aislinn turned abruptly from her mother and gazed up at her father with limpid pleading green eyes. "Daddy, Pooooohhhhh…?" The drawn out word was done in a flirtatious sing song manner and it was all Abbey could do to keep from laughing out loud. 

"Oh, Aislinn," Jed groaned. "You're killing me here." 

"Pease, Daddy." She placed her soft little hands on his cheeks and stuck her bottom lip out. 

"Knows how to get what she wants, doesn't she?" Abbey knew just how tightly Aislinn had her daddy wrapped around her finger. 

"Oh, yeah. This little girl is going to be one hell of a heartbreaker. Just like her mother." 

Abbey smiled and reached for Aislinn. 

"Daddy tuck in." Aislinn clung to her father. She had obviously missed him more than Abbey had thought. 

"Okay, but he's not letting you watch Pooh." Abbey moved back to where she had laid Nicholas down. The little boy was already falling asleep. She placed the digital thermometer in his ear. 

"How is he?" Jed asked from where he was tucking Aislinn in. 

"He's okay. 100.1, just a low grade." She bent down and kissed her son's forehead then moved back to her daughter. 

"Good night, you little imp." Abbey touched her lips to Aislinn's pursed ones. 

"Whas imp?" 

"An imp is Miss Aislinn Bartlet," Abbey grinned and shut off the nursery lights. 

**** 

Deep in the night, Jed was awakened by the sound of crying and a tug on his blankets. 

"Wh…what's wrong?" He groggily rubbed his eyes completely disoriented. The crying continued from right beside his bed. 

"Aislinn?" 

"I scawed, Daddy," she sobbed. 

"It's okay, sweetness. Come up here and tell Daddy what scared you." He pulled her up into the bed wrapping her up in his arms tightly. He could feel her slight body shuddering with her sobs as she tucked her head up under his chin. 

"What's wrong?" Abbey sat up rubbing the sleep out her eyes. 

"I think she had a bad dream," Jed continued to run his hand in soothing circles on Aislinn's back. "Did you have a bad dream, honey?" 

"I see monsters." 

"You saw a monster?" 

"BOO monster!" 

"Oh, a blue monster," Jed smiled at Abbey over Aislinn's head. 

"Oh, honey, there aren't any blue monsters." Abbey wiped at Aislinn's tears with her thumb. 

"Yes!" Aislinn was adamant. "Boo monsters!" 

"You know what, Ash. Those blue monsters are all up here in Aislinn's head." He tapped his daughter's forehead. "And if there were monsters, do you think Daddy would ever let them get his little girl?" 

"No. Daddy HIT monsters," Aislinn sniffed. 

"That's right. Daddy would beat up any monster that tried to get near you or Nicky. So, why don't you snuggle up here with Mommy and me so you can get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow." 

Aislinn nodded against his chest. "Me go see horsies." 

"That's right. So just close your eyes and go to sleep." 

"Me 'faid." 

"Don't be afraid, sweetheart. Mommy and Daddy are right here." Abbey laid down sandwiching Aislinn between her and Jed. 

"Sing me, Mumma." 

"What do you want me to sing, love?" 

"Sing 'ullyby." 

Abbey smiled and began rubbing Aislinn's back while she softly sang to her. Jed sank back into his pillow feeling his precious little girl pressed up to his torso, her breath warm on his chest and the sound of his wife's lovely voice lulling him off to sleep. 

> _Lullaby and good night_  
>  In the sky stars are bright   
> 'Round your head Flowers gay   
> Set your slumbers till day   
> Lullaby and good night   
> In the sky stars are bright   
> 'Round your head Flowers gay   
> Set your slumbers till day   
> Close your eyes now and rest   
> May these hours be blessed   
> Close your eyes now and rest   
> May these hours be blessed

**** 

Deep in the night, Jed awakened with the urge to use the bathroom. He eased carefully out from underneath his little girl's small feet. For some reason Aislinn always seemed to end up sleeping horizontally between him and Abbey and tonight he had her feet. A shaft of moonlight given off by the open drapes bathed Abbey and Aislinn in its light. Jed stood beside the bed with a warm smile curving lips as he gazed down upon his wife and daughter sleeping in a loving mother/daughter embrace. Aislinn was snuggled up to Abbey's midriff and Abbey's arm was over her shoulders holding the little girl protectively to her side, their bare feet sticking out from under the covers. As he bent to pull the comforter down to cover their cold feet and hide their achingly sweet vulnerability, a tender love for them wrapped around his heart causing him to pause for yet a moment longer to enjoy the peaceful moment and the fact that his family was indeed back with him, back where they belonged. 

A few minutes later when he returned from the bathroom, he slid back under the covers with them and rolled to his side to throw an arm over the two, enveloping them in his protective embrace. 

**** 

"Mumma…Mumma…" 

Abbey heard the banging on the bathroom door and shut the water off in the shower so she could hear what was being said. 

"Aislinn?" she asked. 

"Lemme in, Mumma, lemme in." 

"Okay, hold on. Don't wake up your father." Abbey stepped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door. The shaft of light blinded a still groggy Aislinn who stood in the darkened bedroom. 

"Shut light, Mumma, shut light." Aislinn sleepily shielded her eyes against the bright the light. 

"I have a better idea. Why don't we go down to the nursery and see if your brother is awake yet." 

"Okay. We go see horsies?" Aislinn began playing with Abbey's wet hair as her mother carried her past the Secret Service agents and down the darkened hall. In the nursery, Nicholas was just coming to. His face was still flushed and as Abbey placed the back of her hand against his cheek, he coughed deeply, the congestion having settled into his chest as well as his nose. 

"How are you feeling, Nicky?" she asked. 

Nicholas blinked his blue eyes sleepily and whimpered, "Hurt." 

"What hurts, honey?" 

Nicholas brought his hand to his throat. 

"You have a sore throat?" 

Nicholas nodded and curled back up not interested at all in getting up to face the day. Abbey had a feeling there wouldn't be any Olympics today for her son, not if the thermometer told her what she knew it was going to tell her. Sure enough his temperature was sitting at 101.1. 

"Poor little guy," she stroked his forehead. "I think you better stay home with your dad today." 

By the time Jed showered and dressed, he could hear music and laughter coming from the nursery. He made his way down the hall, still buttoning his shirt, and gave a good morning nod to his agents. At the door to the nursery, he paused, a wide grin crossing his face. He didn't know how many mornings he had witnessed this very scene but it always made him smile. The music was _Here Comes the Sun_ , which Abbey played every morning when she woke the children up and dressed them. She was in the process of dressing Nicholas, singing away, her hips moving to the music even as she slid the little boy's shorts on. Abbey could never resist moving to the beat of music. 

" _Here comes the sun, do do do do…_ " Abbey buried her nose against Nicky's round naked belly causing the little boy to giggle and grab at her hair. 

" _Do do do do,_ " Aislinn sang along with her mother jumping up and down on the bed until Abbey finally yanked her down to her butt so she could finish diapering her son. 

"Panda NO!" Aislinn crawled off the bed and raced after her puppy. Panda looked over her shoulder and ran away dragging Aislinn's blankie with her. Aislinn cornered the pup against the wall and grabbed at the blanket. She gave a sharp tug but the puppy simply thought she was playing tug of war and yanked back. 

"Panda 'TOP it! MY bankie!" Aislinn pulled harder and, wagging her tail with the delight of the game, the puppy pulled back just as hard. Jed saw the tears welling in Aislinn's eyes and moved quickly to extricate the beloved blankie from the dog's mouth. Aislinn pulled the blanket to her chest and gave her father a watery smile then lifted her arms to him. 

Jed picked her up and danced his way over to where Abbey was tying Nicky's sneakers, his voice deeper and louder than Abbey's. 

" _Little darlin' I feel the ice is slowly melting…_ " He wiped the tear from Aislinn's cheek. " _Little darlin' it seems like years since it's been clear._ " 

Abbey stood and placed her arm around Jed's waist, Nicholas on her hip and they sang the end all together. 

" _Here comes the sun, do do do do. Here comes the sun and I say, it's all right…._ " 

"Hey, you still using that song to get kids butts out of bed?" 

"ZOEY!" Aislinn and Nicholas shouted with glee at the sight of their sister. 

"It works, doesn't it?" Abbey lifted a brow cryptically at her daughter. "At least until you were fourteen, then nothing short of a bucket of water would get you to move." 

Zoey laughed and knelt to accept the hugs of her younger siblings. 

"I sick, Zoey," Nicholas told her. 

"You sound sick." 

"Nick's gonna stay back with dear old dad today," Jed told her, then looked down at his son. "I have some meetings after breakfast, but I already called Mrs. Fiderer and told her to block some time at lunch so you and I can eat together and maybe do some puzzles and read some books. Would you like that?" 

Nicky nodded, the smile that curved on his lips lighting his eyes, "Me 'n Daddy?" 

"Yup, just you and me, kiddo." 

Abbey flashed a grateful smile Jed's way. She had known right from the moment she'd found out that she was pregnant that this time things would be different. That this time she was going to bear the full burden of caring and raising these children without the benefit of her husband's help, or at least, as much help as she was used to. There would be no compromising about who was going to take the day off to be with their sick child or the give and take of sharing nights with colic or teething. Jed's job had to come first and she had completely accepted that for both herself and for her children. And yet, she was gratified that Jed put as much effort as he did into being a normal dad and being there for his children. It warmed her to think that Nicky and Aislinn's memories of their childhood would not be of a father in absentia, but instead a father who worked very hard to give them if not quantity, than quality time. 

"Aislinn, you're going to be staying here with them if you don't let me brush out your hair." Abbey's attention reverted to her young daughter. 

Aislinn faced her mother with a mutinous expression on her face but reluctantly walked back to where Abbey stood with the hairbrush and elastics in her hand. 

"Thank you. Now, do you want two pigtails or one ponytail?" 

"Pony, pony, pony." Aislinn bounced making it next to impossible for Abbey to pull her hair back. 

"Sit still, little miss ants in your pants." 

While Abbey finished fixing Aislinn's hair and dressing her, Jed and Zoey sat on the floor with Nicholas playing with his blocks. 

"Well, there you go," Jed said, eyeing the line of blocks he'd made. "N I C H O L A S. What does that spell?" 

"Me!" Nicky clapped then coughed with the exertion. 

"Did you give him something for this cough?" Jed looked over at Abbey with a worried frown. 

"Yes, and you can give him some more at lunch." 

Satisfied that his father wasn't looking, Nicholas took one arm and scattered all the blocks. 

"Nicholas!" 

"Do agin, Daddy." 

As soon as Abbey let go of Aislinn's arm, the little girl raced over to her father. 

"New soos, Daddy." She stuck out a small foot encased in a pink Converse sneaker covered with little white daisies. 

"Those are pretty new shoes, sunshine. In fact," he eyed her up and down taking in the pink and white gingham checked short overalls and the white cotton shirt with its eyelet lace collar. Little wisps of blond hair curled against her cheeks where they refused to be tamed by the ponytail. "You look very pretty all around." 

"Sir?" Charlie knocked at the door. "Secretary Hutchinson insisted upon not canceling his lunch meeting with you. The only time we could squeeze him in is now. Should I tell him no?" 

Jed wanted to tell him to stick it up his ass. Hutchinson had always been a pain in the ass, but better to get it over with than have the meeting hanging over his head. 

"Tell him I'll see him this morning. When I'M ready. He can wait with Debbie until I get there." 

"Yes, sir," Charlie grinned. His grin faded as his eyes fell on Zoey. "By the way, Frenchie is downstairs waiting for you." 

"He has a NAME. What is it with you two?" She glanced from Charlie to Jed. "Is Jean Paul so difficult to remember?" 

**** 

"I told you that we cannot bring Panda to the Olympics." Abbey held Aislinn's hand tightly as they made their way to the Oval Office. 

"I ask Daddy." 

"They start that playing you off one another early, don't they?" CJ was waiting outside the Oval Office to see the President and she grinned at Aislinn's smug assurance that her daddy would give her a better answer than her mommy had. 

"You have no idea." 

"Hello, Miss Aislinn." Debbie bent down to talk to the pretty little girl. "I have something in my desk for you." 

Aislinn raced around the desk knowing just what drawer to open. 

"Debbie, I hope that isn't candy," Abbey warned. 

"Nope, learned my lesson on that one." 

Aislinn came back around the desk. "Look, Mumma." She held out a strawberry fruit roll up. 

"Very good," Abbey nodded her appreciation to her husband's secretary. 

"By the way," Debbie said. "I have it on very good authority that Andy brought the babies over for a visit. She's in Toby's office right now." 

CJ and Abbey immediately forgot why they were waiting to see the President and made a beeline to see the babies. Andy was seated on a chair in Toby's office holding Molly while Huck still lay in the carriage. Toby was on the phone. 

"Oooh…look at him. He's precious, Andy." Abbey bent over the carriage, a tender smile crossing her face as Huck blew little bubbles at her. "May I pick him up?" 

"Of course." 

Abbey carefully lifted the newborn into her arms and wiped the bubbles off his pursed lips. 

"I see baby, Mumma. I see baby." Aislinn bounced on her tiptoes. 

"Okay, come see the baby." Abbey sat and held Huck so Aislinn could see the baby. 

Aislinn tentatively reached out a finger to touch the infants curled hand. "Wittle baby." 

"Yes, he is a little baby. I remember when you were just a little baby like this." Waves of maternal sentimentalism crashed through Abbey's chest. 

"I's a big girl." 

"Not so big just yet," Abbey smiled at her daughter running a finger over her nose. "You're still my baby." 

"Mumma gets a wittle baby." 

"What?" 

"Can we gets a wittle baby?" She placed a hand on Abbey's belly hopefully. 

CJ choked on the water she had just sipped. 

"No, sweetheart. Mommy and Daddy have their hands filled with you and Nicholas. You're just going to have to be happy playing with your brother." 

"Good answer," Andy nodded. 

"You always did look good with a baby in your arms," Jed was smiling in the doorway. 

"What are you doing here?" Abbey asked. 

"Well, I was told that CJ was waiting to see me and then that my wife and daughter were waiting to see me, but when I came out of my office I found that I'd been deserted. So, I decided to come down and find out who dragged everyone's attention away from the President of the United States." 

"Daddy, wittle baby." Aislinn took his hand and dragged him over to where Abbey sat. Jed chucked the baby under the chin, smiling when Huck reached for his finger and squeezed it. 

"He's got your hair, Toby," Jed glanced over at his friend. Huck was indeed bald on the top with a little dark hair on either side of his head. Toby smirked at his boss but the pride was evident on his face. 

"Daddy wants a wittle baby?" Aislinn asked hopefully. Jed's deep laughter filled the room and he lifted Aislinn up into his arms. 

"You're my little baby." He gave her a big smacking kiss on the cheek. 

"Daddy, I bing Panda see horsies?" Aislinn placed her hands on his cheeks and flashed him a dimpled smile. 

Abbey rolled her eyes heavenward and Jed chuckled. "I don't think so, Princess. Panda might scare the horsies. I have a feeling that Mommy already told you that." 

"Ma'am." Amy poked her head in the office. "Marine Two is ready for liftoff." 

"Okay." Abbey stood and placed the baby back his carriage. Toby grabbed his briefcase. He would be accompanying the First Lady, as it was he who had written the remarks that she would be giving at the Olympics. 

Aislinn kissed her father good-bye then took her mother's hand. As they started to leave the office, she turned back to look over her shoulder and blew her father one more kiss. Jed blew it right back at her. 

"Have fun, Ash!" he called out. 

They met up with Zoey and Jean Paul outside on the portico. Jean Paul frowned when he saw Abbey and Aislinn. 

"Where is the boy?" he asked Abbey. 

"The BOY has a name, Jean Paul," Abbey snapped. "NICHOLAS has a cold and is going to stay home today." 

"You didn't tell me that," Jean Paul's angry eyes turned on Zoey. 

"What's the big deal?" Zoey flashed him a puzzled look. "You don't even like being around Nicholas and Aislinn, so why do you care?" 

Jean Paul realized quickly that he had nearly given himself away. 

"I don't care, really. I guess I was just surprised." 

Zoey gave her mother a confused look as they made their way on to Marine Two and Abbey shrugged. She had no idea why Jean Paul was upset that Nicholas would not be accompanying them. She had no way of knowing that kidnapping the President's son meant more to a group of Middle Eastern terrorists than kidnapping his women ever would. 


	7. Deliver Us from Evil

"Where is the boy? You assured me that the boy would be accompanying them." 

Jean Paul stood at the concession stand getting lemonade for everyone. "He was supposed to come." The Frenchman looked nervously over his shoulder then grinned at Azim as if they were having a casual conversation. "He has a cold and the First Lady made him stay home. I'm telling you this is NOT going to be a problem. The President adores his wife and daughters, getting them back will be just as important to him as it would be to get his son back." 

"I can't see how that would be. Women are expendable." 

"Not HERE. You've been here long enough to see the difference. Believe me, Bartlet will move heaven and earth to get these girls back to him safely." 

"And he will know what it means to suffer. I, Azim Shareef, will make him suffer as he has made my family suffer." 

**** 

"Look, Mumma, back horsie." Aislinn pointed to the horse being led into the ring. 

"You like the black horse?" 

Aislinn nodded. They were sitting in the bleachers, roped off from the crowd and Aislinn leaned forward over the rail with a big grin on her face. She was having the time of her life now that her mother's speech was over. 

"My GOD, is it HOT," Toby complained. 

"Well, for heaven's sake, Toby, it's in the 90's and you're wearing a full suit. You ever heard of casual clothing?" Abbey was wearing a pair of white Capris, sandals and a coral colored sleeveless blouse. Dark sunglasses covered her eyes. She was definitely more prepared for the day than Toby was. 

"I'm not exactly a casual kind of guy." 

"Yeah, no kidding." 

"Mumma, I's tirsty." 

"Here come Jean Paul and Zoey with our lemonade." 

"Mom," Zoey stopped in front of Abbey and handed her a cup of lemonade. "Jean Paul's friend Marcel, you know the one on the French team." 

"No, I don't know," she sipped her lemonade. "But continue on. Jean Paul has a friend on the French equestrian team." 

"Yes, Marcel, and they're finished for the day, so Jean Paul asked if we could give Aislinn a tour of the barn so she could meet some of the horses. Marcel said it was okay." 

"Well, that was certainly very kind of you, Jean Paul." Abbey eyed the young man speculatively wondering just what he was up to. She hoped that he wasn't being nice to Aislinn just so he could get into Zoey's good graces or into anything else of Zoey's for that matter. 

"I know she likes the horses. No big deal, as you say here." 

"It was very sweet of you." Zoey placed her arm around his waist and smiled up at him. Lately things had been pretty strained between her and Jean Paul, mostly due to his insistence that she experiment with drugs with him, but she was happy to see him making an effort with her mother and her sister. 

"Well, uh, we should be going…" Jean Paul gazed toward the barns. Abbey's brow furrowed slightly. There was something about Jean Paul today, a nervousness or something that she found a bit unsettling. Whatever it was, she had the feeling that something was just a little a little "off" with him today. 

"What do you say, Ash?" Abbey turned to the little girl who was still watching the ring with an enthralled look. "You want to go meet some of the horses?" 

"Yay!" 

"Well, let's go then." 

**** 

The man sat in the top row of the bleachers well behind the First Family. He wore his dark hair in a ponytail hidden under a Philadelphia Phillies baseball cap and dark sunglasses covered his eyes. He looked like one of many American men milling about the Olympic sports venues, but he was not American. In fact, even the thought that he had to pretend to be one of these heathen pigs made him sick to his stomach. He was Hassan Al Khaleef, a distant but blood member of the Qumari royal family. He was here to show the President of the United States, the man who scoffed at the old ways, who felt the Qumari way of an eye for an eye was too simplistic a solution to crime, just what kind of a deterrent that it was. The next time Josiah Bartlet spoke of an eye for eye it would be through the bitterness and pain of tears. 

Hassan watched his victims, for he already thought of them as such, cheering for the horses and sipping their lemonade. Already the thrill of anticipation was running through his veins, for Hassan had been picked for this mission for one reason only – his complete amoral enjoyment of dealing with hostages. For the others, Azim and Habib, it was a holy war – a quest to free their cousins held in prisons in Israel and to avenge the death of Abdul. For Hassan, it was the excitement and the sheer pleasure that he took in torturing his victims. Back home he was a member of the secret police, the man who was called upon as the master interrogator. He especially enjoyed toying with his victims when they were women. He loved the power of watching them cower in fear; he loved having control over their bodies; and he loved the ultimate power of sending them home to their former lives knowing that the scars of Hassan Al Khaleef would remain within them for the rest of their lives. That is, if they were allowed back to their former lives at all. Having the power to watch the life drain from these women's eyes could be just as heady an experience as watching them leave, broken, battered and destroyed. 

He watched the Bartlet women rise and start to head to the barn. He slowly got to his feet to follow, his heart racing with excitement. Even though he had been in this country for almost six months now, it was still strange for him to see the American women milling about wearing as little as they pleased. On the one hand, it sickened him to watch these whores parade around baring flesh and faces, and yet another part of him found it strangely exciting. As he followed the President's wife and daughter, he watched the sunlight catch in their fiery hair. Red hair was not common in his country and it fascinated him. Abigail and Zoey Bartlet were beautiful women; the next few days with them would not be a hardship at all. 

The Bartlet women were made to pause for a few moments while their agents secured the barn. With the heavy Olympic security already in place, it didn't take nearly as long as usual and they were soon allowed inside. There were a few grooms curry combing the horses, but the barn was pretty much empty except for the Bartlets and their agents. 

Abbey stopped to pet the head of a lovely chestnut horse while Zoey proceeded on with Aislinn to show her the black horse that she had been admiring earlier. As Abbey stroked the horse, her vision momentarily clouded. She blinked to clear her eyes but when she re-opened them everything seemed to be swimming and her limbs felt incredibly heavy. She felt a moment of panic, her doctor's mind running through her symptoms and quickly settling on the fear that she might be experiencing a stroke. 

She didn't have time to react, everything happened so fast. One moment she was turning to find someplace to sit down and the next instant a bleeding Secret Service agent was throwing her into the stall. Confusion and then fear gripped her heart as she watched agents starting to fall all over the barn. Without the sound of heavy gunfire, it took her a moment to realize just what was happening. The grooms, with silencers on their guns were taking out the agents one by one. She started to scream for her children but the weakening agent quickly covered her mouth. 

"Be quiet," the man hissed. "They don't know we're in here." 

Abbey looked down and saw the bullet hole in the man's chest automatically covering it with her hand to staunch the flow of blood. Everything was foggy, hazy; she felt like she was moving in slow motion. It was then that she knew. She wasn't having a stroke; she'd been drugged and they were under attack. This was the nightmare scenario that her husband had feared from the moment that he had decided to run for office. This was the fear that they had discussed and lived with for almost five years now. 

"I'm sorry," Abbey lifted her hand from what she knew to be a fatal wound and started to crawl away through the straw away from the agent. Despite being a doctor, her children had to come first. 

"Don't go," the agent rasped. "They'll find you." 

Abbey turned back to him her eyes wild with fear. "My BABIES!" she frantically mouthed to him. 

As she made her way to the edge of the stall, she saw two of the grooms. One held Zoey, her mouth taped shut, her hands taped behind her back. She was stumbling, obviously groggy from the effects of the drugs. The other was holding Aislinn like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. She was kicking and trying to scream for her mother but all she could get out was "Mmmmmm….." against the duct tape. 

"Where is the wife?!" one of the men growled. 

Oh God, Abbey thought. They were Middle Eastern. These were terrorists. Terrorists had her babies. 

"We need the wife!" 

"Leave her. We have to get out of here." The men started to scuffle away. 

A war was raging within Abbey. She knew that she should stay behind, ID the terrorists and help the FBI to find her girls. Intellectually, she knew what she should do; but in the end, her mother's heart won out. She was not going to allow her daughters to die alone. She could only hope that Toby would get help to them. 

"NO!!!!" She stumbled out of the stall, her mind getting fuzzier by the moment. "Leave my babies alone. Take me. I'm the one you want. Leave them. Take me!" 

In an instant, one of the men grabbed her harshly yanking her arms behind her back until she fell to her knees. She wanted to fight, to stop what was happening but her mind was so unclear, her limbs so weak and heavy. The man at her back was muttering something in Arabic as he slammed her facedown into the ground and began twisting duct tape around her wrists. Abbey struggled weakly, lifting her head in time to see them loading Zoey and Aislinn into a horse trailer. 

"No! Leave them!" 

"You don't call the shots now," Hassan hissed. Abbey cried out as he yanked her wrists pulling her shoulders nearly out of their sockets. "We'll be taking you ALL." 

"You ungodly bastard!" Abbey spat as he yanked her to her feet. "They're just kids." 

"You're not a kid, are you?" He squeezed Abbey's jaw harshly, his face just inches from hers. She could smell his fetid breath, his sweat. 

"Hassan! Toy with her later. Let's go." 

"Look what I found." 

Abbey turned and her heart sank. A third man came dragging Toby toward the trailer. 

"Who's the man?" Hassan asked as he shoved Abbey up the ramp into the trailer. 

"Toby Ziegler, he works for the President." 

Abbey froze as she heard the familiar French accent. Oh God, no, she thought. Not Jean Paul. But, it certainly made sense. He was the one who had gotten the lemonade and she'd bet anything that he had drugged it. Her eyes caught Zoey's, saw the moment the horror of what the girl had heard registered in their drugged depths. Abbey's heart broke for Zoey as tears filled the girl's eyes. The painful tears of a young woman who had been betrayed by the man she loved. Her arms ached to find their way around her daughter, to hold her close and comfort her. 

"STOP!" 

Abbey's eyes snapped to the back of the trailer watching the man who held Aislinn grab her ponytail and yank it hard to keep her from kicking at him again. At the sight of her mother, hope had filled Aislinn and she had started to squirm frantically against the man who held her trying to get to her Abbey. Abbey saw the terror and the pain in her daughter's eyes as the man continued to pull on her ponytail and she knew that if she'd had a way, any way, she would have killed the bastard for hurting her. 

"Please, stop!" she cried, noticing that her words were getting more slurred. "Please, you're hurting my little girl." 

"Perhaps you should have taught her some MANNERS." The man gave another yank on Aislinn's hair for good measure. Aislinn screamed against the duct tape. 

"Please." Tears streamed down Abbey's cheeks and clogged her throat. "Can't you see you're scaring her? You've got us where you want us. Please just let me hold her." 

"You won't be holding anything." 

Abbey felt the sharp prick of a needle in her arm and within a few seconds she knew nothing more. 

**** 

Chuckling softly, Leo opened the door to leave the situation room and nearly bumped right into Ron Butterfield. The head of the President's Secret Service protection looked as worried as Leo had ever seen him. His eyes were frantic and he was out of breath. 

"Ron?" Leo frowned. His first thought was of Jed. That something had happened to the President. 

"We have a situation." It was obvious that these words were not easy for Ron to get out. "We're up at black, and procedurally, the Chief of Staff is told before..." 

"What happened?" 

"The First Lady, Zoey, and Aislinn are missing." 

"What do you mean they're missing? How can they be missing? They're at the Olympics." Leo could not comprehend what Ron was saying to him. 

"The last information that we had was of them entering a barn." 

"Well, they couldn't have just disappeared." Leo watched Ron swallow tightly, saw the panic fill the man's eyes and it was then that he knew. The Bartlet girls had not just wandered off; this was a full-fledged situation. 

"No, they didn't disappear. I have five dead agents on the scene and another in critical condition. They've been kidnapped." 

Horror filled Leo's eyes and his limbs weakened. His first thought was that this was going to kill Jed. Oh, God, Jed. He had to tell his best friend that his family had been taken. 

"The President," Ron urged him. "We have to tell him. NOW. It's imperative we get a plan in action." 

"He…he's having lunch with his little boy." Leo's eyes met Ron's and he could see just how much the agent was dreading having to do this. Leo turned from Ron and began making his way numbly toward the Residence. Pictures flashed through his mind as his pace quickened. Abbey – the first time he ever saw her, getting off that bus in Boston with Jed, so young and so heartbreakingly lovely and full of life. Abbey doubled over with labor pains at the Capitol Building. Jed and Abbey standing in front of throngs of well wishers on the hospital stairs, their newborn son and daughter in their arms. Zoey breezing through the White House and teasing her father on the day of her graduation. Abbey and Jed curled up on the hammock in Jackson Hole. Nicholas coming toddling out wearing just his diaper and Aislinn blowing her father a kiss as she left the White House. The more the pictures flashed the tighter hold the pain had on his heart. As he hit hallway to the Residence he began to run, as if he could outrun the pictures and the fear. 

**** 

"Okay, here's a big piece. Where do you think it goes?" Jed sat at the tiny toddler table in the kids' nursery doing a puzzle with Nicholas. They had just finished a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soap. Comfort food at its best. 

Nicholas took the piece from his father and with deep concentration placed it where he thought it might go. When it didn't fit properly, he tried to pound it in with his little fist. 

"Uh, son, it doesn't work that way," Jed chuckled, closing his hand over Nicky's fist to stop him. "If it doesn't fit, you have to try to find another place to put it. Look at it really well and see where you think it might go." 

Not one to give in to frustration like his sister might, Nicholas took the piece and tried the only other available spot, grinning broadly at Jed when it fit. 

"Well, what do you know. You found it. Give me five!" Jed stuck his hand out palm up and Nicholas slapped him five. 

"All done," Nicholas told him as he placed the final piece in its spot. 

"Yup, you did a fine job, slugger. What did you make?" 

"States!" 

"UNITED States." Jed leaned over to run a Kleenex over the boy's runny nose. 

"UiITED States," Nicky parroted his father trying to squirm from him. 

"Blow," Jed instructed. Nicholas blew into the tissue and Jed wadded it up and got to his feet to throw it away. 

"Story?" Nicholas asked. 

Jed glanced at his watch. He had about fifteen minutes before he had to leave. "I can read you a story, but first you have to take your medicine." 

"Water." 

"Yes, yes, I know you want water with it." 

Jed measured out the liquid cough medicine and returned to his son. Nicholas grimaced as his father poured the liquid down his throat, spilling a bit down his chin in the process and he immediately reached for the glass of water. Jed let him take a few swallows and had just gotten to his feet to return the glass to the bathroom when the door to the nursery burst open. 

Jed knew right away from the urgent look on Leo's pale drawn face that something was horribly wrong. He saw Ron Butterfield glance anxiously from him to where Nicholas sat in front of him playing with his puzzle pieces, seemingly unconcerned by the interruption. Jed gazed down at the boy, then moved forward to find out what was wrong, Nicky's glass still in his hand. He had no way of knowing that in just a few seconds his entire world was going to blow up in his face. That in just a few seconds, life as Jed Bartlet knew it would be over. 

"What's wrong? You two look like you've seen a ghost," Jed tried to joke. Leo wasn't smiling. 

"It's…it's the girls." 

"MY girls?" Jed's throat began to tighten. 

"I don't know how to tell you this, Jed." Tears filled Leo's eyes and he took a deep breath. "Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn were kidnapped from the Olympics. They're gone." 

"No…" the word was barely audible as Nicky's glass of water dropped from Jed's numb fingers and he felt his knees start to give way. He stopped breathing completely and felt his chest constrict with a pain so intense he wondered if this was what it was like to die of a heart attack. 

In one instant, Leo watched his friend age twenty years, watched every bit of life seep from Jed's eyes and lines of pain slash at his boyish face. The look on that now ashen gray face was dead, completely devoid of any spark that had been the essence of Jed Bartlet. Leo had known that it would be this way. He had known exactly what Jed's reaction would be to losing his family this way and in the back of his mind he had already begun to wonder if this news might very well kill him. 


	8. Deliver Us from Evil

"Daddy?" Nicholas stood beside his father with a concerned look as Ron and Leo each held an elbow to keep the man standing. 

Through the haze of terror and grief, Josiah Bartlet heard his son's tentative voice over the loud thud of his pulse that was racing so quickly and so loudly he was sure that everyone in the room could hear it. 

"Nicky," he choked out the boy's name and reached blindly for his tiny hand, squeezing it tightly, needing to feel his son alive and with him. 

"Sir, I'm sorry but we don't have time for you to digest all of this." Ron wished he could give the man more time to get his bearings, to come to grips with what had happened, but that wasn't possible. Every minute wasted was a minute that the Bartlet girls got further away from being found. "We need to make some quick decisions to get them back." 

"Get them back…" Jed shook his head as if clearing cobwebs. "Yes, we need to get them back. IZZY!" He looked helplessly at his little boy. 

"Go." Nicky's agent stepped forward. "We'll be fine until the nanny gets here." 

"Yes…okay…let's go!" Jed took off down the hall in a full-blown sprint, his adrenaline now pumping so furiously throughout his body that his kidneys ached. He was running as if his life depended on getting to the situation room but everyone following him knew differently. He was running because the life of three of the people that he loved most in the world depended on it. As he made his way down the halls of the West Wing, his jacket flying behind him, everyone stopped working and watched him with at first puzzlement and then a mounting fear. Nobody had ever seen the President run like that; and not since Marcus Hughes had broken into Harmony Point with Mrs. Bartlet and the twins present had they ever seen such a look of determination and fear on his face. They knew instinctively that something had to be terribly, terribly wrong. Little did they know just how bad that it was. 

**** 

Abbey awoke slowly, her brain was fuzzy and she was disoriented, her limbs heavy and lethargic. She heard a soft whimpering and wondered if it was she making the noise. One part of her clung to oblivion as if she knew that waking up would be a bad thing, but as she started to let herself fade back into the blackness, it hit her with the force of a slap. She had been kidnapped and her daughters were with her. A stab of panic speared through her heart and she opened her eyes to face their fate, her first thought on making sure that they were okay. Aislinn was sitting beside where she lay prone and it was the little girl who had been whimpering for her mother to awaken. Big tears continued to trail down Aislinn's cheeks as she stroked Abbey's hair. 

"Ash, sweetie, it's okay." Weakly Abbey pushed herself up to a sitting position and in moving she realized that her wrists were no longer bound but the skin was raw where they had ripped the duct tape off. 

"Muuumma… Muuumma…Mommmyyy…" The relief that her mother was now awake was palpable as Aislinn crawled into her lap burying her face into Abbey's breasts. "Wanna go home…wanna go home…pease Mumma…wanna go home." 

"Ssssh…ssshh… it's okay, my love. Mommy's awake now." Abbey stroked Aislinn's hair as she tried to take stock of their situation. She had no idea of where they were, of how far they'd been taken, of what time of day that it was or of how long that she'd been out of it. The windows of the small room were boarded up and there was no furniture. It was dark, hot, and stuffy and Abbey didn't want to think about what kind of creatures were making the skittering sounds in the corner. Zoey was lying at her feet still knocked out from the drugs they'd been given. Abbey thought about trying to awaken her but figured the girl was better off being left in the sweetness of her dreams rather than waking her up to the nightmare of their reality. Toby was not in the small room with them. She continued to fade in and out of consciousness, the drugs not having quite worn off yet, but she continued to rock Aislinn gently in her arms until she too began to fade off to sleep. 

The slam of the door banging off the wall jolted her out of their peaceful solitude. 

"Ah, you are awake." Hassan smiled down at them, a smile that caused chills to run down Abbey's spine. It was the smile of someone purely evil, a smile that never touched the icy hardness of his dark eyes. 

"What is it that you want with us?" Abbey tried to remain calm. 

"I want to take away everything that Jed Bartlet loves and have it for myself and then I want to DESTROY it, thus destroying him." 

He knelt in front of Abbey, looking deeply into her green eyes. Abbey swallowed at the hatred that burned in his black eyes. His hand reached out and cruelly squeezed her breast. Abbey gasped in pain and shrunk back from him. Hassan only gave her that cold, cold smile. "By the time we're all through with you and your daughter, your husband will be grateful that we killed you." 

**** 

Jed wandered around the situation room shouting off orders to close airports and bus and train terminals. He had the entire state of Pennsylvania shut down. But, after those first few crucial orders had been made, he couldn't keep the panic from clawing at him. He was unable to stand still. He paced the room listening to the Joint Chiefs and his national security advisors discussing and debating who might have taken his family and how to retaliate. But, Jed heard it all as if he were in an echo chamber; he could hear the voices but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Other than as a means to find the girls, he didn't care who it was that had them; he didn't care about bombing countries that might be involved. All he could think about was how scared his girls must be, and whether they were being hurt or not. No, it didn't matter who held them captive; they were going to pay. He was going to MAKE them pay. 

"Sir…" Jed was brought back to the present by Ron Butterfield's arm on his elbow. 

"What is it, Ron?" 

"Sir, there were some things…some articles that belonged to your family that were found at the scene – in the barn." 

"What?" Jed looked at him with confusion and then a huge lump filled his throat as Ron handed him Aislinn's blankie, her diaper bag and one pink flowered converse sneaker. Tears welled in his eyes as he took the articles from Ron. 

"She was so proud of these shoes," Jed's voice was barely above a whisper as he stared at the tiny, now dirty sneaker remembering his daughter's sunny smile as she urged him to look at her new "soos" this morning. 

Jed felt another arm on his elbow and turned to see Leo trying to give him comfort. The advisors had all stopped talking at the evidence of their commander in chief's grief. 

"Aislinn needs her blankie, Leo." Jed turned pain filled blue eyes to his best friend. "She can't sleep without her blankie." He lifted the worn blanket to his face remembering how Aislinn had been swaddled in it just after her birth. He could still smell his little girl in the fabric. 

"She's going to be, okay." Leo's own eyes stung with tears. "We're going to get her back. We'll get them all back." 

"Sir, there's something else." Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a delicate gold chain that was graced with a beautiful intricate Celtic cross. 

"It's Abbey's," Jed choked. He took the necklace from Ron and brought it to his lips, closing his eyes to keep the tears from spilling. When he finally opened them, one did make its way down his cheek. "I bought this for her on our honeymoon in Ireland. She had it blessed by the Pope our first year in office when we made the state visit to Italy." 

"She's a strong woman, sir." Admiral Fitzwallace placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's going to make it through this." 

Jed nodded and his shoulders stiffened as he composed himself. He turned his now steely eyes on the silent room. "Get them BACK," he ordered. "I don't care what you have to do, you get my family back." He turned to leave the room. "I'm going to check on my son and I need to call Andy." 

**** 

"M…Mom?" Zoey awoke with alarm as she saw her mother pressed back against the wall, a terrorist's hand covering her breast. 

"It's okay, Zoey." 

"Yes, it's okay, Zoey." Hassan turned from Abbey and took in her daughter's frightened green eyes. 

Abbey saw the gleam of interest light the man's eyes as they turned on Zoey and she quickly shoved the girl behind her, glaring ferociously at the man standing before them. "You leave my daughter alone. Do what you want to me but you leave her alone." 

"Ahhh…aren't you a brave one." He traced a finger down Abbey's cheek. She continued to stare at him as she fought from betraying any of the fear that had her limbs shaking. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Ahhby. I LIKE a woman with a little fire. But you might not be so lucky with Azim. He won't like your defiance." 

"Ah, the mother cub defending her young." Azim entered the room throwing Toby in ahead of him. "It is quite a sight, is it not?" 

"What do you expect to gain from kidnapping us?" Abbey turned from Hassan's almost maniacal face to the cool, cold Azim. 

"Gain. Well, I expect to gain everything." He stepped in front of Hassan and stood before Abbey. "I expect to get my countrymen released from their prison in Israel and to take a measure of revenge while I do so." 

"You won't get them released. The United States does not negotiate with terrorists. My HUSBAND will NOT negotiate with YOU." Abbey's unwavering eyes met the man's before her. 

"Don't you DARE look me in the eye when you speak to me." Azim grabbed her by the front of her blouse and savagely he swung his arm back and slapped her across the face. Abbey saw stars and tasted blood where her teeth bit into her lip. Azim flung her from him and she hit the wall. Aislinn screamed with terror and covered her ears but as her sister gathered her into her arms, she could still hear her mother cry out. Aislinn tried to get to Abbey but Azim wasn't done with her. He pulled Abbey forward and held her head down, eyes to the floor. 

"Your countrymen and your HUSBAND may allow you to get away with looking them in the eye when you speak to them. They may allow you to talk back to them, but now you are living by MY rules. In MY country a woman NEVER looks a man in the eye when she speaks. A woman NEVER questions a man's actions or authority. You may be a very important person in the world of the West but you are NOTHING here, Abigail Bartlet. NOTHING." 

"Leave her alone, dammit!" Toby struggled against Hassan's arms. "What's the matter with you? You get your kicks out of hurting innocent women and children?" 

"It is no different than your government killing innocent women and children in my country with your bombs." He turned to Zoey. "You look at me with such hatred, young lady. But, your father is no better than I am. It is HE who orders those bombs dropped. You just remember that." 

"Don't you compare yourself to MY father," Zoey seethed, her green eyes flashing. It was so easy to see the mother in the daughter. "My father is a good, decent, loving man. You know NOTHING about my father. My father doesn't TARGET women and children...He…" 

"Zoey!" Abbey grabbed her arm and pulled her away as she saw Azim's arm rise to slap the girl. Although it went against every grain of her being, Abbey knew that her survival and that of her daughter's depended on how they reacted to their captors and she kept her head down, her eyes glued to the floor. "Please, don't hurt her. She's just a daughter defending her father." 

"And you, Mrs. Bartlet," Azim lifted her chin to look into her pretty eyes. "What do you think of your husband hiring assassins to do his dirty work?" 

"My husband doesn't hire assassins." 

"I beg to differ. Your husband hired an assassin to kill my brother, Abdul Shareef." 

"You're lying." 

"Am I? I guess we'll have to just wait and see. Now, I think that it's time for a little negotiating." Azim grabbed Abbey's arm and began yanking her toward the door. 

"I'm telling you, this is pointless, the President will NOT negotiate for hostages." 

"Oh, you're right. The PRESIDENT may not negotiate for a journalist or a businessman or even a relief worker, but for his wife and his daughters I think Jed Bartlet will make an exception. How could a man live with himself if he allowed his family to die?" 

**** 

The TV was on in Debbie's office as Jed moved from the Oval Office to make his way back to the situation room. He paused for a moment as a harried CJ took the podium for her press conference. The pressroom was going crazy with shouted questions and it took her a few moments to restore order before she could speak. 

"At approximately 3:00 p.m. today, the head of the White House Secret Service was alerted that there had been an AOP – Attack on principals. First Lady Abigail Bartlet and her daughters Zoey and Aislinn Bartlet were kidnapped from the barn of the French Equestrian team at the Philadelphia Olympics at approximately 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. today. Right now I don't have any details other than to say that the FBI, Secret Service, CIA, and local authorities are all working together to find out who was behind the kidnapping." 

"CJ! Were they Middle Eastern? Was it Al Qaeda?" 

"As of yet, nobody is taking responsibility for the kidnapping." 

"But the assumption is that we're talking Middle Eastern terrorists here, isn't it?" 

"Is there a concern that they are being raped?" 

CJ knew that with the kidnapping of women that was one of the first thoughts on everyone's mind, the first thought on hers and certainly the first thought on the President's but it still took her aback to hear the fear spoken aloud and with such sheer insensitivity. 

"For the sake of a number of distraught people, I'm going to ask you not to publicly speculate on what's going on." 

The conference continued to go on but Jed Bartlet walked away from the TV with his shoulders slumped. That reporter in the pressroom had just given validity to one of his greatest fears. That while they fumbled and bumbled trying to get family back, his wife and his daughter were being molested at will. 

Debbie watched her boss depart with a lump in her throat. She couldn't even imagine what kind of hellish torment he was going through right now. 

**** 

In the situation room, it was confirmed to Jed that the terrorists who had kidnapped his wife and daughters were Middle Eastern. He was also told that they'd had the help of Jean Paul de Bourbon who had been left to die at the scene with a massive drug overdose, but was, at the moment, having his stomach pumped. Jed felt sickened as he was told of how the terrorists had masqueraded as grooms and gotten the girls and Toby out of the Olympic venue. He knew he should be clearer on what exactly was going on but he was having trouble concentrating on what they were saying to him or what they wanted him to do. The confirmation of who had his family and the idea that his wife and girls were at the mercy of men so cruel and so evil had caused a cold terror to grip his heart, numb his limbs and dull his normally sharp brain. These men were not an unknown quantity. He knew exactly how they operated. He'd had to make more than his share of phone calls to the families of deceased hostages. Hostages that had been beheaded and dumped like trash on the side of the road. Just the thought of his girls being treated that way, desecrated and killed made his mind whirl dangerously and his stomach roil with nausea. He couldn't…wouldn't allow them to die that way and yet how could he cave into terrorist demands when he had never done so before? 

He knew he wasn't handling this well. Knew that everyone was looking to him for leadership and he was floundering. Floundering in an abyss of terror and despair and he didn't know how to come up for air. 

"Leo." He stopped his friend as they made their way out of the situation room and sat on the stairs. "I need you to tell me now. Do you think they're already dead?" 

"I absolutely do not." Leo was firm in his resolve. 

"You know," Jed was staring into space lost in his pain and his memories. "When Abbey was pregnant I would sleep with my arms wrapped around her belly so I could feel my babies moving inside of her. When I laid like that with all of them wrapped in my arms, I felt like I could protect them from anything." 

"You couldn't have seen this coming." 

"Aislinn had a nightmare last night," Jed's voice was flat, dead. "She came to our bedroom and crawled up into bed with us. She was crying. She was afraid of the monsters. I held her in my arms and I promised her that I'd never let the monsters get her…But they did, Leo. The monsters got my little girl and there is not a damn thing that I can do about it." 

"Yes, there is. We're going to find them, Jed. You've got to trust the FBI and…" 

"I forecasted this, you know. A few years back in my first year of the Presidency, I made up a scary story so Zoey would take her protection more seriously. I went too far and I scared her and she cried. THIS was the story. Leo, the people around me don't have the legal authority to stop me from doing certain things. In fact, they could go to jail for not following my orders." 

Leo could see the dangerous path Jed was descending down. He knew exactly what he was referring to. "We're right here by your side, you won't do anything that you shouldn't do." 

"I might. If I see a machete held over my wife's or daughter's head or a knife held to my baby girl's throat, I know I'll do whatever they want me to do." 

"Don't think of images like that." 

Jed looked at him with surprise. Did he think that there were any other images in his head? "All I can think of is images like that. I have to step down, Leo. I can't keep my oath of office to protect and defend this country and also keep the vows that I made when I married Abbey to protect her, not to mention the promises that I made to each of my daughters the first time I held them in my arms to take care of them always. Quietly assemble the cabinet please. I'm ready to resign." 


	9. Deliver Us from Evil

Jed sat before his cabinet. They looked shell-shocked. He knew that he had stunned them with his decision to invoke the twenty fifth amendment and hand the Presidency over to Glen Allen Walken, a man who had been their enemy on nearly every issue and belief that they held. He knew that this move would not have been quite so traumatic if he had been handing the reigns temporarily over to John Hoynes, but he did not at the moment have the luxury of a Vice President who at least shared their core values. Instead, he was handing his job over to the Speaker of the House, a Republican, a man who was his polar opposite in every respect. And, by doing so, he was giving that man a greater power than he ever could have dreamed of. As Jed took in the faces of his cabinet, some soft with compassion and some angry with disbelief, he damned John Hoynes to the fires of hell. 

"Sir, my concern is this," Roger Tribby leaned forward. "If you and the acting President were to give contradictory orders Leo McGarry would be put into an impossible situation that could lead to extraordinary chaos." 

I won't be giving any orders," Jed assured them. 

"But, if you did." They all knew how much Jed Bartlet's family meant to him and that he might not be able to stand idly by while kidnappers had their way with them. "I think there are those in this room, myself included, who would want to follow those orders. And now we have two governments." 

"Leo would know what to do." 

"Would he?" 

"Yes." 

Jed quickly took the vote and headed for the Oval Office where Walken had already ensconced himself. Jed noted that at least the big man had the decency not to be already sitting in his chair when he entered the room. He kept his head down unable to look his staff in the eye. He felt weak, as if he was letting them down by not being strong enough to deal with the situation. He knew they didn't begrudge him doing what he felt that he had to do, but he also knew that at least some of them were worried about him having committed political suicide. The truth was he didn't care anything about politics at the moment. He would give the Republicans as many years in office as he could, if only he would get Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn back home safely. And, if he didn't, then there wouldn't be anything left of him to be President anyway. 

Still, signing the papers that turned his job and his power over to another man, a man who stood for almost everything that he, Jed Bartlet, despised, was one of the hardest things that he'd ever done in his life. Glen Allen Walken was a right wing conservative, NRA advocate and pro lifer who had spent his career fighting against everything that Jed believed in. Not to mention he was a boorish, arrogant bastard. Never was that moment more clear to him than when, after signing the papers making him acting President, Glen turned to him with a steely look and told him that he was "relieved" effectively booting him from his own office. There was dead silence in the room as everyone stood in shock, including Jed who looked like he'd been slapped. It had been five years since anyone, other than his family, had dared speak to him that way. 

It was Leo who broke the silence. "You're relieved." They were the same words Glen Walken had spoken just a moment before but meant in an entirely different way. Jed knew exactly what Leo meant. He had been surviving these past few hours on pure adrenaline. He hadn't been allowed to dwell on what might be happening to his wife and daughters and when he had the scenarios had been so breathtakingly cruel and painful he'd been left with no other choice but to invoke the twenty-fifth. "You're relieved." Yes, Jed knew what Leo meant – no more situation room, no more meetings, no more decisions and no more phone calls. He was free now, free to be a husband and a father. Free to feel the pain that he knew was waiting to tear and claw at him when he allowed it to do so. That freedom scared him. A part of him was deathly afraid of being allowed to wallow in that pain and grief. 

"Sir," Glen's voice stopped Jed just as he reached the door. Jed turned back to face the man who was now his President. 

Realizing that he come off as a bit of an ass and seeing that Jed Bartlet truly was in pain, Glen tried to redeem himself. "At least you can be grateful that Ms. Bartlet doesn't know what kind of men she's dealing with." 

Jed stared at him for a long moment, his jaw clenching with emotion. "Abbey is not a fool. She knows evil and she knows violence; she's dealt with both before and I can tell you that she knows EXACTLY what men are capable of." With that, Jed turned and left the Oval Office, for what might be his final time. 

**** 

"The feed, it's not working. I can't reach the White House." Habib, the third terrorist was obviously in charge of the electronics. 

Abbey sat at a table in what she now knew was a trailer watching her three captors argue vehemently with each other. There were windows out here and Abbey could see that it was dark outside so she knew that it was night. But, because it was night, she could not see where they were. From what she could tell, there were no streetlights and it was quiet outside the trailer so she assumed they were in the country, not in the city. 

"We don't have time to mess with this." Azim was pacing furiously. Tension was quite high among the terrorists, none had ever been part of a plot so dangerous before and that they were nervous was quite evident to Abbey. "Take her picture. We'll send a note." 

Habib pulled out an old fashioned Polaroid camera and took a picture of Abbey seated in front of the white wall. Hassan, with a mask over his face, held a newspaper with the day's headlines on it to prove to the President that his wife was, at the moment, still alive. 

"Now, Mrs. Bartlet." Azim slammed a piece of paper and a pen down on the table in front of her. "You're going to write your husband a little letter asking him to free Mosrah Alleel, Ali Al Kahleel, and Mohammed Ashad." 

Abbey simply stared at the floor not moving. "No." The word was very quiet but very final. 

"WHAT did you say to me?" Azim lifted her chin, saw the defiance shining in her eyes and so badly wanted to wipe out that spark. He positively itched for the day that he could do what he wanted to this woman; the day he would look into her eyes and see nothing but the blank stare of a broken spirit. 

"I said no. I won't do that to my husband." 

"You'll do what I tell you to do. Hassan!" 

Hassan took the pen that Azim had set on the table and placed it in Abbey's hand. Abbey merely let it fall to the floor. Angry now at her defiance, Hassan picked up the pen and squeezed her fingers tightly around it – tightly enough to feel the crack as her finger broke. Abbey gave a sharp cry of pain as her pinkie snapped in two. She didn't have to be a doctor to know that he had broken her finger. Tears stung her eyes at the white-hot pain and she pulled her hand in protectively against her belly fighting the roiling waves of nausea. 

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" Hassan's eyes were merely slits as he pulled Abbey's hand away from her belly and pressed his lips to her painful finger. "Better?" 

Abbey pulled the hand back away from him, defiance still shining in her eyes even as a single tear of pain trailed down her cheek. 

Seeing that Hassan had the scent of blood in his nostrils, Fayih Shareef took pity on their captives. "Hassan, I bring food." 

Abbey followed Hassan's lead and turned to the voice in the doorway. She was surprised to see a woman. At least she assumed it was a woman, the person wore the traditional abayah of many Middle Eastern cultures including the veil that covered her face. Abbey was stunned to see a woman. It was always more of a surprise to see a female involved in something like this. 

"We'll eat," Azim said. "You get this out to the White House." He thrust the picture and the hastily scribbled note at Fayih. "You know what to do." He lifted Abbey to her feet and shoved her back through the door into the dark pit from which she'd been dragged out of. The light flooded the small room and Toby took in the First Lady's disheveled appearance, the hands she had wrapped around her middle and the tears that still streamed down her cheeks. He closed his eyes against the pain and the feeling of impotence that he had in not being able to help her, in not being able to keep them from hurting her. He'd heard the angry voices, heard Abbey's cry of pain but he didn't know what had gone on out there. He didn't know if he'd ever know. He winced with pain as he watched Abbey gingerly take a seat between him and Zoey still cradling her left hand. 

"Mumma cwy?" Aislinn asked as she moved from Zoey's arms to Abbey's lap. Abbey felt Aislinn's little hands brushing at the wet tears on her face. 

"Yes, baby. Mommy cried, but she's okay now that she's back with you guys." Abbey leaned her head wearily against the wall, the tears still falling from behind her closed eyelids. 

"Survive, Abbey," Toby said softly as he placed a gentle comforting arm around her shoulders. "It doesn't matter what happens to you here, what they do to you, all that's going to matter to the President is that you survived." 

Abbey nodded choking back a sob. "We have to get out of here, Toby. There has to be a way out of here." 

It was then that Toby knew that Abbey was just as aware as he that they were not getting out of this situation alive, not unless the FBI found them, or unless they escaped. 

**** 

Jed made his way tiredly to the Residence. He had been going on fumes for the past few hours and now he just felt like he was going to crash. He was scared, terrified at the thought of being alone with his fears and emotions. He'd been informed as members of his and Abbey's family had arrived at the White House but he certainly didn't expect them to be up at this hour. It was after one a.m.. He made his way quietly through the living room and nearly jumped out of his skin when his mother stood from the chair where she'd been awaiting his return. 

"M…mother…" The surprise in his voice was evident and Emily knew that he hadn't expected her to be waiting up for him. 

"Josiah." She nodded her greeting, then did something that she hadn't done since he was a very little boy needing his mother's comfort. She opened her arms to him inviting him into her embrace. The moment was too much for Jed. He held on to his small frail mother, his body shaking with the effort he was making not to sob. Old habits died hard and a stiff upper lip had been ground into him since childhood. 

"Ssh…Ssh…it's okay…it's okay, son…" Emily stroked Jed's hair wondering why she had denied herself the comfort of her son's arms for so many years. 

"What if I never get them back?" Jed choked. "What if I never see them again? I…I don't think I can take this, Mother…I can't stand thinking about what's happening to them right now…I…I…" 

Emily pulled back, placed her hands on Jed's cheeks. "You can take this, Josiah. You're strong and you're brave, and you have two other daughters and a little boy who are going to need you. Let yourself feel what you're feeling but then pull it back together. Abbey and Zoey and Aislinn need you to keep it together." 

Jed nodded, his eyes widening as he saw Jon and Sally and a tearful Beth and Michael enter the room from the kitchen. They had all stayed up to be with him. 

"I really appreciate you all being here, but I…I just need a minute." Jed quickly departed the room for the safety of his and Abbey's silent bedroom where he was free from the sympathetic eyes of his family, free to bear his grief. He shuffled across the room as if he were an old man, the effort of walking even too much for him. At the hamper, he reached in and pulled out the peach satin nightgown Abbey had been wearing the night before. He loved her in peach; it brought out the russet in her hair and the creaminess of her skin. Tears stung his eyes as he thought of her in this gown last night, thought about how he'd pulled the covers up over her and Aislinn to keep them warm and wondered if they were cuddled up somewhere together tonight in fear. He sank down on the edge of the bed lifting Abbey's nightgown to his face and inhaling the flowery scents of honeysuckle and lily of the valley, the gentle essence of his wife's skin. And, in that moment, she was so alive for him that the pain that he might never see her or his daughters again hit him like a swift kick to the gut. It hit him so hard that it knocked the breath right out of him and when the air finally came back, it was released on a strangled sob. He buried his face in the nightgown and began to cry. Harsh soul wrenching sobs filled the room as Jed finally succumbed to the fear and grief that he'd been holding at bay all day long. 

Ellie stood outside her parents' bedroom at a loss as to what to do. She'd never heard her father cry like this before and wasn't sure if he would appreciate being "caught" that way. Still, it was breaking her heart to hear those harsh painful sobs and to know that he was in there all alone. Finally, she tentatively opened the door. 

"D…daddy?" 

Jed looked up at his lovely middle daughter. Ellie stood there in the doorway so confused and uncertain, her eyes swollen from crying. 

"Ells," he choked and opened his arms. Ellie flew into his arms feeling the safety and security of her father's big bear hug. She cried against his chest, as he did into her hair. Comforting each other, the way that a family should. 

**** 

It was an absolutely horrific night in the stuffy back room of the trailer. The room was completely pitch black and Aislinn was terrified of the dark and of the scurrying and squeaks that came from around the room. A couple of times Abbey felt something brush up against her bare leg and it was all that she could do not to cry out or jump. She felt Zoey lurch a time or two and knew that her daughter was trying not to cry out as well, both of them doing what they could to calm Aislinn. Abbey could hear sucking noises coming from her baby daughter and knew that Aislinn had reverted to sucking her thumb as a means of comfort. She sang to her softly, gently stroking her hair and her back remembering the previous night when they'd been in her nice warm bed and Jed's arm had lain protectively over them. What she wouldn't give right now to be back in that bed – back in Jed's arms. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of her husband and her daughters and her little boy and she wondered if she would live to see them again. Still, she sang on careful not to pass her fears onto her young daughters. 

> _"Through many dangers toils, and snares_  
>  I have already come.   
> 'Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far   
> And Grace will lead me home. 
> 
> The Lord has promised good to me.   
> His Word my hope secures.   
> He will my shield and portion be   
> As long as life endures." 

She felt Toby take her hand and although she knew the hymn meant nothing to him spiritually, she knew that her voice had in some way comforted him as well as it had her daughters who from the feel of it had finally both fallen asleep against her. 

**** 

Abbey had only barely started to nod off when she felt lips move against her cheek, for a moment she smiled thinking it was Jed. 

"Ahhbbby…" Her heavily accented name was whispered into her ear and a big hand covered her mouth as she jolted awake. His hand muffled her scream of terror. "Don't make a sound, unless of course, you want to wake up the kid and let her join the party." 

A hand still covering her mouth, Abbey's terror filled eyes moved to where Zoey lay next to her curled up with Aislinn. She knew that she had to be very careful when dealing with this man. Fighting him could get her daughters hurt or killed, so she shook her head negatively telling him that she wouldn't fight him. Toby sat quietly the corner where he had been sleeping. It took everything inside of him not to jump on the bastard who dared touch Jed Bartlet's wife, but the fear for her daughters was palpable in Abbey's eyes and he knew that to fight would only draw attention back on to them. 

Hassan had done his homework well. Abbey Bartlet had shown right from the start that she would go to any lengths to protect her children and now he was going to use that weakness against her. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to have a taste of the President's daughter, but first he knew just how to get what he wanted out of her mother. He kissed her then, cruelly, a punishing, grinding kiss that cut her lip on her teeth. Abbey forced herself to keep from struggling, the bile rising in her throat as jammed his hand inside the front of her pants. She choked back a sob and fought the urge to retch as she felt his thick dirty finger poke harshly inside her body. 

Her heart began to pound furiously and she cringed away from the violation. He was going to rape her. She'd been through this before; she knew exactly what she was going to go through. She was going to be violated, humiliated and shamed. She was going to be hurt. A stabbing jolt of panic ran through her as she remembered that horrible ripping pain and she prayed to God, that she could keep quiet, that she could keep from screaming. The last thing that she wanted was for her daughters to be any more traumatized than they already were. 'Please, God, please don't let them hear me…' Abbey was praying silently, retreating deeply within herself, when the door swung open and another man entered the room. 

"Hassan," his voice was angry and it woke Zoey, her eyes widening with shock as she saw the man that lay on her mother and that he was withdrawing his hand from her pants. "Get out. It is not time for this yet." Azim yanked him up and began to pull him out of the room. "We have a PLAN, cousin. My God, you are like an animal with this need to rut." He shut the door behind him. It was all over in less than a couple of minutes, but Abbey was shaking terribly. 

"Mom?" Zoey's voice was laced with fear. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" 

"No, I'm fine." Abbey's voice was tremulous, her hands still shaking as she soothed a stirring Aislinn back to sleep. But she wasn't fine. She could still feel that grubby thick digit inside her body and wanted very much to weep. 

"Oh, God, Mom, I'm so sorry," Zoey sniffed, tears filling her eyes. "This is all my fault." 

"How is this YOU'RE fault? Honey, this is nobody's fault but those terrorists out there." 

"But, I brought them into our lives. I brought Jean Paul into our lives." 

"Zoey, don't." Abbey pulled her daughter to her side, tucking her head against her shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong. If the Service didn't know Jean Paul had terrorist ties then his cover had to be very, very good." 

"He played me, Mom. All this time he was just playing me. He never really loved me. I HATE him." Zoey started to cry on her mother's shoulder. 

"I know, baby…ssh…I know." 

**** 

"Jed, it's four o'clock in the morning." Jon entered the living room rubbing at his tired eyes and found Jed still clothed sitting on the couch looking at a photo album. "Have you gotten any sleep at all?" 

Jed didn't look up from the album. "She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen." 

"What? Who?" 

"Abbey. That night when I first met her…Man, I KNEW she was the one for me. She was so gorgeous and so full of life and sass and just, you know, everything that you could want in a woman." Jed could still remember so vividly how drawn he'd felt to Abbey that night, the instant pull of sexual attraction that he'd never felt before that moment. He remembered it so easily because that feeling had never left him. Even now, all these years later, there were times when Abbey would just look at him smile up at him and it could take his breath away. 

"Abbey is an incredible woman, Jed," Jon agreed as he took a seat next to his brother. "She's just full of 'S' words." 

"'S' words?" 

"You know, smart, sexy, sassy, strong. She is one of the most amazing women that I've ever met. You're a very lucky man." 

"Yeah, I know." Jed looked up for the first time and Jon could see the dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. 

"You really should try to get some sleep." 

"Can't. Every time I close my eyes I see them, I hear them screaming for me." Jed ran his hands over his ears as if he could hold the screams at bay. Uncomfortable with his older brother's emotions, Jon awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. 

Jed took a deep breath and flipped through the photo album. Turning the pages he found what he was looking for. He stopped at the earliest photos they had of Zoey just hours old in her incubator. 

"Look at how tiny she was." Jed traced his finger over the picture. He still remembered the first time he'd seen his new baby girl in that incubator, her tiny little body hooked up to all those wires and tubes. She had been wearing nothing but a doll sized diaper and a little cap over the peach fuzz on her head that already had a decidedly red cast to it. He remembered seeing "Baby Girl Bartlet" on her name placard and knew the urge to name her quickly. But, she'd come too soon, this new little girl of theirs, and he and Abbey hadn't yet decided on a name. They had narrowed it down to Alexandra or Olivia but there hadn't been a final agreement. He'd prayed so hard, so damn hard for God to let his little girl live. And, He had. Their daughter had lived and thrived, had turned into warm, laughing, fearless young woman. And now, now was that amazing life going to be snatched away from him? 

He gently touched the photo of the first time that he'd held Zoey, for they'd made their new name decision when they found that it meant "life". He was sitting in a rocking chair wearing green scrubs, a big yellow coverall and an even bigger smile. Zoey was still attached to many of the tubes that were keeping her alive but that hadn't mattered. What mattered was that he'd finally held her, felt her life force, smelled her baby smell and knew an all-encompassing love. 

"Abbey used to sit with her for hours and just talk and sing to her. She wanted so badly for that baby girl to know that we were with her and that we loved her." 

"I seem to remember quite a few hours you spent there yourself." 

"Yeah…" Jed smiled tenderly at yet another picture, this one a photo that he had taken of the first time Abbey had finally been allowed to breast-feed their daughter. She'd been so nervous, so afraid Zoey wouldn't be able to nurse, but by the end of the day Zoey had taken the first few ounces of her mother's milk and they hadn't looked back since. 

"This one was pretty recent." Jon gazed down at the book Jed had begun flipping through again. Jed stopped at the photo Jon was referring to. It was a profile of a hugely pregnant Abbey standing in front of the Christmas tree, one hand on her protruding belly and a secret smile of such maternal softness, it caused the breath to catch in his throat. 

"That was the Christmas before the twins were born. The night Abbey told me the doctor told her they were viable if they came early. This is the ultrasound she showed me." Jed pointed to a gray and white photo with two fetuses curled up around each other. "That's Nicky and Aislinn inside of Abbey." 

"They look like they're hugging." Jon smiled at the before birth photo of his niece and nephew. 

Jed nodded, a lump clogging his throat. "What am I supposed to tell Nicky, Jon? I mean, he knows Abbey goes away sometimes, but he's never been separated from Aislinn. He's going to ask me about them. What do I tell my son?" 

"You'll think of something." 

"You know, I keep seeing Aislinn blowing me that kiss as she and Abbey left yesterday morning." 

"Jed, don't torture yourself." 

"You don't know what it's like to have a little girl. Little girls worship you. They think Daddy can protect them from anyone or anything." 

"Jed, if the Secret Service wasn't able to protect them there was nothing that you could have done." 

"I just…God, Jon…Why didn't they just come after me? I wish they'd taken me." 

Jon wisely did not tell Jed that the way he was feeling was precisely why the terrorists had not come after him. Taking his family had damaged Jed far more terribly than any pain they could have inflicted upon him. 

"I wish…" Jed's mind was still in that hallway yesterday morning waving good-bye to his wife and daughter. "I wish I'd called out one more 'I love you' to Abbey. I wish that…you know…if there was one moment that I could get back in my life, it would be that one. I'd stop them right there in the door and never let them leave." 

"Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that, big brother." 

"Sir?" Charlie poked his head in. "Leo is here to see you." 

"Send him in. I thought I sent you home hours ago, Charlie." 

"I'm not going anywhere." Charlie stepped aside and Leo entered the room. 

"You have news." Jed could tell by the look on Leo's face. 

"We know who has the girls. We got a ransom note, and a picture." 

"A picture?" 

"Of Abbey." 

Jed took the piece of paper from Leo. His eyes skipped the ransom demand for the release of hostages and immediately went to the photo of his wife, her lip cut and a bruise on her jaw. "Oh…baby…What have they done to you?" 


	10. Deliver Us from Evil

Abbey awoke as she felt Aislinn begin to stir in her arms. She could tell by the slight lightening of the room that after a night of only intermittent dozing, thanks to Hassan's midnight visit, it was finally morning. Her finger still ached with a dull throb and she could see that it had turned a sickening shade of purplish black. 

"Mumma." Aislinn wiped her eyes sleepily, rubbing her cheek against Abbey's breasts as she woke up. "I gots to pee pee." 

Without her diaper bag, Abbey had been forced to leave Aislinn in the diaper she had been wearing when she changed her in the bathroom at the Olympics. She could feel how heavy and sodden it now was and Abbey knew that it had to be uncomfortable for the toddler, no wonder her nearly toilet trained little girl wanted it off. Still, she dreaded bringing unwanted attention back to them. 

"I have to go, too, Mom," Zoey added her request. Abbey turned to look at Toby and the man nodded that it was time to ask for a bathroom break for all. 

"I'll ask," Toby said. He had just gotten to his feet when the door opened. Instinctively, they all flinched back against the wall. But, this time it was not Hassan or Azim, or even the elusive Habib. It was the woman Abbey had seen last night and she carried a bottle of water. She was still covered head to toe in black; they couldn't even see her face. Abbey didn't know how she could stand it. It was still early morning but in spite of the fact that she was wearing a sleeveless top, she was breaking out in a sweat in the hot room. It had to be stifling to be covered up like that. 

"Good morning." The woman's accent was strong but she evidently spoke English. 

"For some of you maybe," Toby quipped bitterly. 

"I bring you water. Make it last. Azim say it's all you get today." 

Abbey eyed the water longingly but opened it and pressed the bottle to Aislinn's lips. When Aislinn had taken a few gulps, Abbey had her pass it to Zoey who took a couple of sips. 

"Now you, Mom." Zoey passed it back to Abbey. 

"No, save it. I'm fine." 

"Mom, you have to drink something, you'll dehydrate." 

"Zoey…" 

"Mom, if you don't drink any, I'm not going to drink any more." 

"Oh, fine." Abbey took the bottle and pressed it to her lips. Both Fayih and Toby noticed that she didn't allow any of the water to pass her lips. She was saving it all for her daughters. The move put Fayih to shame. 

"We need to use the bathroom." Abbey eyed the woman coldly. 

"Yes, yes, of course, follow me." 

Under the watchful eyes of the men, the captives were taken to the small bathroom off the living room. Abbey did the best she could to deal with Aislinn's diaper rash and much to the little girl's chagrin and surprise her overalls were re-hooked without her having any "undies" on. As Fayih led them back to their cave, which was how Abbey had begun to think of the room where they were being kept, she could see that the terrorists were angry. They were arguing in Arabic. She felt a small stab of pleasure that something was not going their way. She had no way of knowing it was that her husband had abdicated his power. That Jed Bartlet was no longer President of the United States. 

"You're a woman," Abbey said, as Fayih moved to shut the door. "How can you be a part of something like this?" 

"I must do as my husband Azim tells me." 

"How can you stay married to an animal like that?" 

"You don't know me. You don't know what my life is like. Do you think I chose to be married to a man like this? My father chose Azim for me. I am the fourth wife. I have no power." 

Abbey knew that it was a common practice for Qumari men to take more than one wife but it was different to actually meet someone who lived that kind of lifestyle. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to share her husband with his other families, for him to rotate in and out of her bed knowing that the previous night he had been in another woman's arms, another woman's body. But, she also knew that most of these marriages were arranged, so she supposed if you didn't really love someone, the jealousy could not be that great; in fact, she supposed many of these women relished the nights that they were left alone. 

"Do you have any children?' 

"I have a son and a daughter." 

"And yet it doesn't bother you to watch them scare MY children? You're a MOTHER, for God's sake." 

"Of course it bothers me. I don't like seeing any of you, especially your baby girl treated this way." 

"Then why don't you help us. Defy them." 

"As I said, you know nothing of my life. You think it's so easy. You American women have no idea of just how lucky you are. In my country, wives and children survive only if a man desires it to be so. The men are taught from the moment that they are little boys that their word is LAW. I have read articles in the newspapers where men are PRAISED for executing their wives or daughters for a minor transgression like TALKING to a western man. I have known women who have been drowned because they did not bleed their first night in the marriage bed." 

"Their husbands killed them because they weren't virgins?" Abbey was appalled. 

"No, their husbands merely returned them to their fathers. It was their fathers who drowned them. My own sister was gang raped by friends of our brother and left for dead, but do you think that gained her sympathy or medical care?" 

"No," Abbey whispered. She knew what happened to women who were raped in that country; it had long been a bone of contention between her and Jed when it came to the policy of the United States giving weapons to Qumar. 

"No, you're right. Our father, the man who should have comforted her, the man who should have wanted to see the men who did that to her DEAD, turned her in to the religious police and she was stoned to death. Do you understand what it is to be STONED to death? It is not a pretty way to die." Fayih turned away, her voice the only indication that she was overwhelmed by emotion. 

"We are not allowed to drive cars, or to go out in public without a male chaperone, or to show a speck of flesh. We are not allowed to choose whom we marry or when we bear children. Our freedom is over the day that we start our menses, so don't tell me to DEFY the men. You would be better off understanding that you mean nothing to them. They will use your body and they will kill you and it will mean absolutely nothing to them." 

**** 

Unable to sleep and not knowing what else to do, Jed went to the nursery. He pulled the rocking chair over to the crib and sat for well over an hour quietly watching his son sleep, listening to the soft sighs and sucking noises that Nicholas made in his sleep and intently watching the rise and fall of his belly as he breathed. Nicky was the only one that he could protect right now and he'd be damned if he were going to allow something to happen to him. . It was terrifying for him to think about how close his son had come to being taken as well. If it hadn't been for his cold, Nicholas would right now be with his mother and sisters, God only knew where. 

Jed stretched out in the chair as he watched his son start to awaken; it was not something he often had the time to watch. Waking up was a slow process for Nicholas Bartlet. First came the squirming and the soft whimpers then came the stretching and yawning, and finally his big blue eyes opened and he smiled sleepily when he saw his father sitting beside his crib. 

"Morning, buddy." Jed ruffled his hair. Nicky sat up rubbing at his eyes, then looked with confusion toward Aislinn's crib. 

"Azlin?" he asked. 

A lump filled Jed's throat. "I told you, Nicky. Mommy and Aislinn had to go on a trip. They'll be back soon." 

Tired and a bit grumpy from his cold, Nicky's lip began to tremble, "Wan my mumma." 

"Of course you do," Jed sympathized, thinking that the boy had no idea how much he would give for Abbey to come walking through that door right now. 

"Pay sun, Daddy." 

"What?" 

"Pay sun," Nicky pointed to the stereo system on the shelf. Jed nodded realizing what his son wanted. That Nicholas needed his usual morning routine. He found the CD and placed it in. Tears burned in Jed's eyes at the first familiar guitar strains. Was it only just yesterday morning that he'd come in here to find Abbey, Aislinn, and Nicholas singing and dancing to their favorite wake up song? 

" _Here comes the sun do do do do…_ " Jed lifted Nicholas out of the crib and held his warm body tightly to his chest, the pain so strong it nearly brought him to his knees. He closed his eyes and buried his face into the boy's hair stifling the sob that threatened to burst forth. He couldn't, however, control the tear that leaked from behind his closed eyelid. He could still feel Aislinn in his arms as he'd danced her across the room, still see Abbey swinging her saucy little rear and singing as she changed Nicky's diaper. Jed's sniffle drew Nicky's attention. The little boy pulled back from his father's tight embrace. 

"Daddy cwy?" he frowned. 

"Daddy's a little sad, Nicky, but it's okay." Jed wiped at his eyes, determined not to show his fear or grief to the child. "You want to go have some breakfast?" They had decided that it would be best for Nicholas not to know what was going on with his mother and sisters. Still, it broke his heart to think that the little boy didn't know how terribly his world had just changed, that he might never see his mother or his sisters again. 

"'Ucky Chahms?" Nicky asked hopefully. 

Jed smiled through his tears. Lucky Charms were a treat the kids got when Daddy had them since Mommy didn't like all the sugar in the marshmallows. "Lucky Charms it is." 

**** 

Needing to keep busy to keep from thinking about her mother, Ellie had begun preparing breakfast in the Residence kitchen with her grandmothers, her Aunt Sally and Millie, who had arrived at the break of dawn. CJ had stopped in wanting to keep the President…well…former President, briefed on what she would be saying to the press, and was seated at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee and listening to Ellie talk about being raised by Abbey Bartlet. 

"I think the earliest memory that I have of my mother is feeling her cool hand on my forehead when I had a fever and her dabbing me all over with Calamine lotion when I had the chicken pox. She's convinced that I can't remember that because I was only around two at the time, but I do. When I was a little girl I would sit in her lap and she would sing to me and read to me just like she does with the twins now. I loved it when she would sing me to sleep, I felt so safe. She was a really good mom and I don't just mean taking care of us. I mean that she really seemed to enjoy doing stuff with us, even if it was just silly stuff like cooking a meal. Friday nights were family night. Mom had surgeries Friday mornings so she was rarely on call Friday nights. She loved to cook but during the week she was too busy with work and us kids, so either the housekeeper made something or Mom or Dad would warm up a casserole. But, Friday nights her creativity would take over. Each week we picked a different culture and we would make a whole meal representing that culture. We did Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Moroccan, French, Indian, Japanese, Italian, you name it, and while we ate Mom would play music from whatever country we were dining in that night. I remember one night I had a friend sleep over and she thought we were a little nuts listening to sitar music and eating spicy curry food from India." 

With a sly inner smile CJ had to wonder if the Indian theme had carried back into the bedroom that evening for she'd seen those books on _Kama Sutra_ on the Bartlets' bedroom shelf. 

"She really would have hated eating those snails from France that we had the following week," Ellie chuckled at the memory. 

"You're mother really did enjoy those nights," Millie smiled sadly. "She would talk about it all week pumping us all for ideas and then she would sit in the doctor's lounge and write up menus." 

"How did your dad enjoy them?" CJ asked. As President, Jed Bartlet was pretty adamant in his food choices. 

"Well, I remember him grumbling once about having to take off his shoes and sit on the floor the night that we did a Japanese meal and that he wasn't eating anything that wasn't COOKED. He told Mom that if he did acquiesce then she had to be his little geisha all night." 

"That sounds like Jed," Millie gave a soft laugh. 

"I do think that he had as much fun with it as the rest of us. You know Dad, he just likes to needle Mom. I know my sisters and I looked forward to it all week, even after we were too "grown up" to get into a "family night". After supper we would watch a movie – Mom's favorite was _Casablanca_ , Dad's was _High Noon_ – or if we didn't watch a movie, we'd play a game. Mom loved to play charades. She and Daddy were so competitive about it." 

CJ could see the tears starting to well in Ellie's eyes and she turned to face Beth. "You must have instilled that love of cooking in your daughter." 

"Not me," Beth admitted. "I'm a passable cook, Abbey's gourmet." 

"No, it wasn't Gramma who taught mom to cook. It was Gerard," Ellie smiled. "He and Colin had the apartment next door to Mom and Dad in London. Gerard was French and he was a Cordon Bleu chef in a restaurant in Chelsea so he was around during the day. Mom was pregnant with Liz and only working part time at the bookstore so Gerard spent his afternoons teaching her the art of culinary cuisine." 

"It didn't bother your father that she spent so much time with another man?" 

Ellie looked up from the blueberry muffin batter and smiled. CJ did know her father well. "No. Gerard was gay. He and Colin were a couple. Colin was a musician and they all became friends." 

"I bet you girls didn't even know you were learning anything with those dinners. It's nice that you had a tradition like that." 

"No, for us it was just fun. But, Mom was big on tradition, you know like all that D.A.R. stuff. When I turned sixteen she bought me season tickets to the Boston Ballet, just like she had for Liz on her sixteenth. We would go to Sunday afternoon matinees like she did when she was my age, and we'd have lunch at the Ritz with my great grandmother Anne and sometimes Grandma Beth." Ellie smiled at her grandmother. "It was fun to just be with her, you know, one on one. Now that I'm older, I see that it was her chance to stay in touch with me, to keep the lines of communication open because, I mean we would talk about EVERYTHING. That's one of the best things about Mom, you could talk to her about stuff and she didn't get all prudy and freaked out like my friends' moms. I knew the REAL way babies were born LONG before a lot of my friends and I still remember her explaining to me how to 'French kiss'. God, I thought that was so GROSS, I couldn't understand why anyone would want a boys TONGUE in their mouth!" With her grandparents standing beside her, Ellie did not release any of her mother's more intimate secrets – that she'd tried marijuana in college and that she'd slept with her father before they got married. 

"Of course it wasn't all fun, Mom and Dad were both big into 'social responsibility'; and even when I was a little kid, I was expected to help out with one or both of them at the Manchester soup kitchen. Even when Dad was governor, they kept their night. That surprised a lot of people. But, they didn't do it for votes; they'd been doing it way before Dad was involved in national politics. It was just part of who they were. Mom was on the board of a local battered woman's shelter and there were some nights when the shelter was full that she brought these women home to our farm and hid them out until room could be found for them. She really was…." 

"ENOUGH!" Jed stood in the doorway with Nicholas in his arms unable to take anymore. The entire room went silent at his outburst. "Stop talking about your mother like she's DEAD. Your mother is not DEAD." Jed handed Nicky to Millie and turned to leave the room. 

Ellie stared as his departing form with a look of shock and pain. She started to go to him but her grandfather gently stopped her. 

"Let me." 

Michael left the kitchen and found Jed in the living room staring out the window that faced the Washington Monument. 

"Son." He placed a hand on Jed's shoulder. 

Jed drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Dad. I shouldn't have snapped at Ellie like that. I should be grateful that she has such happy memories of her mother. It's just…dammit, everyone acts like they're already dead and I can't help thinking, 'What if that's all I have left? What if all I have left of Abbey and Zoey and Aislinn are…memories?'" The final word was choked out and Jed had to clear his throat to keep his composure. 

"Jed. I need you to come with me." 

Jed looked at his father-in-law with confusion. "Where are we going? I can't leave." 

"We aren't going far but there's something that you need to see. Ellie!" 

Ellie entered the room warily and eyed her father checking out his mood. 

"I'm sorry, baby." Jed opened his arms. Ellie slowly moved to him and into his embrace. 

"Come on," Michael urged everyone. "I was watching the news this morning and I think there is something that we all need to see." 

Perplexed, Jed followed his father-in-law out of the Residence and out of the White House, his hand linked tightly with Ellie's. He felt closer to his middle daughter now than he ever had before. He wasn't sure if it was because she was the daughter who most closely resembled her mother in temperament or because she was the daughter who had been closest to Abbey, but, whatever the reason, Jed was grateful that she was with him. 

As they made their way to the front gate of the White House, Jed heard the crowd before he saw it. He heard the soulful mourning hum of thousands that filled the afternoon air with _Amazing Grace_. Then, as they made the corner, his eyes widened. Thousands of people stood before the gate that was now piled high with flowers, stuffed animals, pictures, and notes. It was a crowd that went back further than the eye could see. Some of the members of the vigil held lit candles, while some held pictures of Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn, and others held signs proclaiming their love for the first family. Many of the people humming did so with tears streaming down their cheeks. It was the tears that moved Jed deeply in his heart, the tears of strangers who were praying with him for the safe return of his family. America truly was mourning with him. This outpouring of love and grief was one of the most amazing things that Jed had ever experienced. And, when a lone voice filled the silence that had taken over the group at the sight of the President with a hauntingly beautiful rendition of _Ave Maria_ , he moved forward from behind the bushes, closer to the crowd but still on the other side of the fence. The Service was not about to let him out there to mingle and show his gratitude as he would have liked, but he was able to convey his deep appreciation with a heartfelt tap to his chest with his fist – a gesture all Americans had come to know as the President's way of signing his love. 

As he stood facing the crowd, he felt arms close around him from behind. For a moment his heart nearly stopped. Only Abbey wrapped her arms around him from behind like that. He turned around quickly and looked down, not at Abbey, but into Abbey's eyes that were shining in the tears of his granddaughter. 

"Annie," Jed tilted her chin to look into those lovely green eyes and Annie burst into tears, wrapping her arms around his middle and sobbing against his chest. Jed held her tightly to his body and held his other arm out to Elizabeth who had allowed her daughter the comfort of her father's arms before she herself took it. Ellie quickly joined them. 

Standing just to the side, Beth wrapped her own arms around her husband's waist and watched Jed comfort his daughters, and take comfort from them. "You did a good thing bringing them out here. They needed to see this – to see that they aren't alone." 

Michael nodded, too choked up to speak, and Millie touched him on his arm. 

"Abbey would be so proud…" Millie nodded toward Jed and the girls. "So proud to see them helping each other this way." 

Flashbulbs began to pop as the press got wind that former President Bartlet and his daughters had come down to view the vigil. Jed glared toward the gate with disgust. 

"Come on, girls. Let's get out of here." 

**** 

"Mumma, hungwy." Aislinn lay listlessly in Abbey's arms sweat beading her forehead. 

"I know, baby." Abbey had been feeling sick and a bit headachy herself from the lack of food and water. None of them had eaten since lunch the previous day. 

"Do you think they're going to give us something to eat?" Zoey was propped back against the wall rolling her Capris up over her knees. It had to be well over 100 degrees in the stuffy little room and the only air circulation they got was when the door opened. 

"I think that depends on how long they plan to have us. I have the distinct impression that things are not going as they'd planned." Abbey felt the sweat trickling down her back and between her breasts. Having Aislinn curled up in a fetal position on her lap didn't help matters but she wasn't going to put the little girl down. Aislinn needed as much reassurance as she could give her. Abbey didn't even want to think about the psychological damage that was being done to her youngest daughter. 

"The longer it takes them to fix whatever problem they're having, the better chance we have of the FBI finding us," Toby's voice was so matter of fact that it caused hope to flutter in the hearts of the two Bartlet women. 

"Do you really think the FBI is going to find us?" Zoey turned her hopeful eyes toward Toby. It was easy for Abbey to see that her daughter was clinging to the older male for reassurance. Toby had become her father figure and to Zoey her father was all knowing and all-powerful. She was too young to understand that no one, not even her father, the most powerful man in the world, could do anything to save them right now. 

She saw the uncertainty that flickered in Toby's eyes and knew that he didn't have any idea of whether the FBI would find them or not. 

"They're going to find us. The entire world has to be tuning into this; there had to be witnesses. I bet they're hot on our trail right now as we speak." Again, Toby's monotone voice was a direct link to the world that they had been taken from. 

"That's what I thought." Zoey smiled and returned to rolling her pants up over her knees. 

Abbey pressed her lips into Aislinn's hair and gave Toby a thankful little half smile. She knew as well as he did that the chances of getting out of this mess alive were about slim to none, but Zoey didn't need to know that. As long as they were still alive, there was hope. 

The door to the room jerked open, startling Abbey so much she banged her head against the wall. She watched with trepidation as the three men approached them. She held Aislinn tighter to her body and reached a hand out to take Zoey's. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toby tighten up as if getting ready to do battle. 

"So, you think you are so smart, you stupid American WHORE." Azim paced in front of Abbey. "You still refuse to write a letter to your husband, your President." 

Abbey stared straight ahead, silent, unbreakable. 

"Take the little one." 


	11. Deliver Us from Evil

Azim nodded to Hassan. Aislinn screamed as she was ripped from her mother's arms. 

"NO!!!" Abbey jumped to her feet but before she could rush forward, Azim grabbed her from behind. At the feel of his arms holding her back from her daughter, Abbey went into a frenzy, kicking and scratching and fighting. She was wild with the primal need to protect her young. She felt the skin rip from Azim's face as her fingernails dug into his flesh. Aislinn's screams just drove into her more of a state of panic. "LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE'S JUST A BABY!" 

"JED BARTLET'S baby. For that she will pay." 

"MaaaaMaaaa!!!MaaaMaaa!!!" Aislinn's shrieks filled the room as she kicked at the man who held her back from her mother. 

Rage and nausea filled Toby as he and a crying Zoey were held at bay by Habib's revolver, helpless to do anything to help the terrified baby. 

"Please…PLEASE, I'll do whatever you want," Abbey pleaded. She had fallen to her knees all dignity gone her only conscious thought to save her child. "Please, just don't hurt her, please…please…." 

Azim smiled that cold, cold smile. He had wanted to see Abigail Bartlet broken, crawling on her knees and he had gotten his wish. In the end, it had not been such a difficult task at all. Azim knelt before her, lifted her chin, and took in the frantic tear filled eyes. 

"We have a direct feed linked to the White House. You are going to go on that camera and you are going to beg your husband to release my Qumari cousins who were so unjustly thrown into prison in Israel. You are going to tell him that we are going to kill his little girl if he doesn't do it." 

Abbey felt sick to her stomach. She knew what it was going to do to Jed to see that, to hear that ultimatum, and she also knew that it couldn't make any difference. He couldn't do what they demanded. "Yes…yes…I'll do it. Whatever you say. Just don't hurt my baby." 

"You will be VERY convincing." 

"I said I'll do it, just give me my baby back." Abbey held her arms out. Hassan dangled Aislinn before her by one arm, taunting her. He hadn't expected the little girl's lunge toward her mother. He lost his grip on her arm and with a sickening thud and a shriek of pain, Aislinn hit the floor. 

**** 

"Leo." Elizabeth Bartlet Weston answered the door to the living room of the Residence. She was a small slender woman, like her mother, with the same rich auburn hair and green eyes that both had passed on to young Anabeth, who Leo noticed was sitting on the couch pale-faced and staring at a TV that was showing scenes of the Bartlet family history. There was Jed having a tea party with little Zoey on the porch of the farm and cradling newborn baby Aislinn in the hospital. There was Jed dancing at his Inauguration with Abbey, and Abbey and Jed chasing Aislinn on the beach in Maine. On and on it went, as it had been all night and day now. 

"Hi, Liz," Leo kissed her cheek then uncomfortably scanned the roomful of O'Neills and Bartlets. He knew them all, Jed and Abbey's immediate family, but he felt out of place being around them in this time of turmoil and grief. 

"I'm assuming you're here to see Daddy." 

"Yeah." 

"Any news about my mother and sisters?" Elizabeth tried for calm but Leo could see the white knuckled grip with which she held her glass. 

"Nothing definite yet. But, I do need to see your father." 

Liz could tell by Leo's tone and by what he left unsaid that he probably had more news than he was willing to give her. "Daddy's in the nursery." Liz lead him along and Leo felt extreme discomfort as the strained and still shocked faces of the Bartlets and the O'Neills followed his every move. They knew he was the liaison with the new President and that his arrival could mean good news or bad news – life or death. He now knew how Abbey must have felt when approaching the family members of her patients, as if she held their world, their future, in her hands. 

Elizabeth opened the door to the nursery smiling softly as she saw her father, Nicholas, and Gus working on an upside down tricycle. Knowing that little ears did not need to hear what Leo McGarry had to say, Elizabeth entered the room. "Boys, why don't you come with me. Gramma Beth made some peanut butter cookies and I think your names are on a few." 

Gus quickly jumped to his feet, waiting patiently for the younger Nicholas to join him. With a pang of tenderness, Jed watched little Gus take Nicky's hand to follow Liz to the kitchen. 

"What are you doing?" Leo's brow was furrowed as he took in the grease on Jed's forehead and his hands. 

"I'm oiling Aislinn's tricycle. I want it to be ready for her when she comes back." 

Leo could see the denial. Jed was making deals with God. "Is that why you're hiding out in here instead of being out there with your family?" 

"I'm not hiding out." 

"They don't blame you, you know." 

"Well, they should." 

"What?" 

"They should blame me. It's my fault." 

"How is this YOUR fault?" 

"I gave the order to kill Shareef, Leo. ME. And now my girls are paying the price." 

"We don't know that this has anything to do with Shareef. They haven't said a word about Shareef. The only contact that we've had has been the letter asking us to release the three Qumari terrorists that plotted the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister." 

"Walken isn't going to do it?" 

"He can't, Jed. You know that." 

"Yeah," Jed placed his attention back on the little red tricycle. "That's why I stepped down. A part of me wants to strangle him for not forcing Israel to release them. But, you didn't come here to tell me that, did you?" 

"No, I came to tell you that Jean Paul is awake." 

"What did he have to say for himself?" Jed sneered. 

"He isn't saying much of anything. In spite of the fact that they pumped him full of drugs and left him for dead, he isn't speaking." 

"I want to see him." 

"What?" Leo's eyes widened with surprise. 

"If that mewling little son of a bitch knows where my wife and daughters are being held he damn well better tell us. Let Ron know. We're going to G.W.." 

**** 

Abbey was at Aislinn's side in an instant. The little girl was screaming in pain, holding onto her arm and thrashing against Abbey when she tried to touch her. 

"Ash, baby…it's okay. Mommy needs to see where you're hurt." Abbey probed the bruise on the girl's jaw but she knew that Aislinn's arm had born the brunt of her awkward fall. Hesitantly, but knowing she had to do it, Abbey began to manipulate her daughter's arm starting from her shoulder and moving down to her elbow. 

As her mother's fingers probed down along her forearm, Aislinn shrieked and yanked herself away. Tears blurred Abbey's eyes; it was just as she had suspected a fracture of the radial bone. It wasn't compound, had not broken through the flesh, but it was bad enough that she'd been able to feel it without needing an x-ray. Already the arm was blackening and swelling. 

"You heartless, dirty, FUCKING son of bitch!" Abbey turned to Hassan the venom from her words and the fire flashing in her eyes in direct contrast to the gentleness with which she pulled her sobbing daughter onto her lap. "You broke her fucking arm!" 

"Ah, such language," Hassan tssked, tssked. He blew a bubble with his bubble gum completely unmindful of what he'd just done to the innocent little girl. "And in front of such little ears." 

"You broke her arm." Tears streamed unchecked down Abbey's cheeks as she rocked her daughter in her arms trying to comfort her. "She needs help. You have to let her go…she needs to see a doctor…Keep me, but let her go." 

The men simply turned and started to leave the room. Abbey eyed the gun in Azim's holster with longing. If only she could get that gun. For the first time in her life, she knew that she would kill another human being and the way she felt right now, it would give her great pleasure to watch these men die. 

Abbey called out to their retreating forms, "DAMMIT, she needs a DOCTOR." 

"I guess you'll have to do then, DOCTOR Bartlet." Azim turned to face her, a look of disdain for the idea of a female doctor written all over his face, and then he shut the door leaving them with the crying child. 

**** 

"Well, well, look who came to see me." Jean Paul was laying in the hospital bed attached to an IV but Jed didn't feel one iota of pity for the young man who had used his daughter so shamelessly. 

"Where are my wife and daughters?" Jed tone was pure ice. 

"What, no hello Jean Paul, how are you? Oh that's right, you couldn't even remember my NAME." 

"I opened up my HOME to you. I took you to my church. I let you eat at my table." 

"And I watched you fuck your wife." 

Jed's face paled with the shock of the boy's words. 

Jean Paul laughed a tired, jaded sound, "Oh, yes, Mr. PRESIDENT, I know a lot more about you than you think that I do. I know that it damn near killed you to let Zoey bring me home. You think I didn't know how you felt about me. You think you're so fucking superior. I descend from the house of BOURBON and you could barely tolerate having me in your home." 

"I guess I wasn't so off base, was I, you little scumbag? You USED my little girl." 

"Yes, well that was the fun part," Jean Paul smirked. Jed's fist caught the young man on the jaw jerking his head back against the pillow. 

"Hey!" Jean Paul dabbed at the blood on his lip and eyed the impassive looking Secret Service agent who stood by the door. "You can't let him do that to me." 

"I didn't see a thing." Ron stared straight ahead. 

Jed grabbed a fistful of Jean Paul's hospital gown and hauled him up off the pillow. "You tell me where my wife and daughters are – NOW." 

"I don't know," Jean Paul felt a frission of fear at the rage that burned in Jed Bartlet's eyes. "I wasn't part of the plans. All I know is that they're somewhere in Pennsylvania." 

"Don't give me that BULLSHIT." Jed drew his fist back. 

"I SWEAR. All I was supposed to do was lure Mrs. Bartlet and the girls into the barn." 

"For what?" Jed's tone was deadly. "What was the price for my wife and daughters?" 

"Enough money to restore my family's home to its ancient splendor." 

Jed snorted. "Too bad you'll never see that money get put to use." 

"Oh, yes I will. I'll be extradited by the end of this week." 

"You're not going anywhere. You're standing trial right here where you are going to have to face a jury of American women and men and tell them how you PLANNED the kidnapping of their first family and how you DRUGGED the First Lady and her young daughters." 

"Hey, I didn't kidnap them!" Jean Paul was panicking now. "They'll have to believe me!" 

"Listen to me, you mealy mouthed little pissant." Jed's hand shot out grasping the boy's throat and pressing in hard until Jean Paul was choking, his face turning first red and then purple. He struggled trying to pull Jed's hand from his larynx but the wrath of the older man was stronger. Jed leaned in close; his blue eyes burning into Jean Paul's his voice icy, deadly. "If they DIE, I'm going to see to it that YOU do. Believe that." 

**** 

Abbey rocked Aislinn back and forth in her arms, her head pillowed against her breasts. The little girl's hysterical sobbing had calmed into soft shocky hiccups that shook her little body. Her face was soaking wet from the tears, blotchy and swollen and her nose was running. Abbey soothed her, sang to her, tried to calm her and all the while her own tears trailed silently down her cheeks. 

Still, in spite of her mother's comfort, there was only one thing that Aislinn wanted. The one person who could make the monsters go away. "I wan my daddy…I wan my daddy…. I wan my daddy…. I wan my daddy…." It was like a soft pitiful mantra that the little girl could not stop repeating, something that brought tears to Toby's eyes and something he knew would kill Jed if he knew how badly his little girl needed him. 

"I want your daddy, too, sweetness…" Abbey brushed the hair back off her forehead. "I want your daddy, too." 

"Mumma…I pee peed…" 

"I know, honey…It's okay. You couldn't help it." 

"Sowy, Mumma… I sowy." 

"Oh, God, baby, don't. It's okay," Abbey started to cry then, her heart breaking. "You don't have to be sorry. You're a brave, brave little girl, Aislinn…" 

Fayih quietly entered the room and made her way hesitantly to the corner where the group of captives sat. 

"Azim and Habib are out at the shed working on the electronics. I bring water…for the little girl…" Fayih handed Abbey a bottle of water. 

"Water isn't going to help her," Abbey seethed. "Her arm his BROKEN. She needs to be at a hospital. Please, you have to help us." 

"I cannot. Please understand. If I help you they will kill me. They will kill my own children." 

"Your husband would kill his own child?" Abbey was incredulous. 

"My husband would do whatever he has to do. Your little one. She loves her father?" 

Fayih could hear Aislinn's continuing pleas for her daddy. 

"Very much. She's the apple of her daddy's eye." 

"Which is, I imagine why they took her. Why they took all of you. You must mean a lot to the President." 

"Look, I've been thinking. There is a way that you can help us and the men don't have to know it was you." 

Abbey watched Fayih withdraw warily and she jumped right in. "I see Hassan likes to chew gum. Does he have any laying around?" 

"All over the place. Why?" 

"There's no way that we can all escape. They'd catch us for sure. But there is a way for Zoey to get out of here with Aislinn." 

"Mom…" Zoey knew she wasn't going to like what her mother was about to say. 

"No, hear me out. I know what Hassan wants and I know it's only a matter of time before he takes it. If you stay, Zoey, it's going to happen to both of us. I've lived through being violated and I WON'T have that happen to you. Fayih, if you put a piece of gum on the door latch it won't lock when you shut it. I can distract Hassan and when I do, Zoey, you take Aislinn and run." 

"Distract him?" Toby was shocked. "You'd give your body to that perverted monster? You're the First Lady of the United States, you can't do that." 

Abbey turned to him green eyes filled with righteousness. "I'd sell my soul to the devil, Toby, if it would mean saving my children." 

"I'm not leaving you here, Mom." Tears filled Zoey's eyes at the thought. 

"Zoey, you HAVE to. Aislinn needs medical attention. I'm going to be honest with you, honey. These men are going to kill us. Regardless of what your father does, we aren't going to get out of this alive. YOU are my only hope. You get Aislinn to safety and you can help the FBI find me. Toby, you go with them and…" 

"I'm staying right here." Toby knew that if Abigail Bartlet had enough courage to deal with what was going to happen to her than he had to have the courage to stay behind and help her get through it all. 

"Toby––" 

"Do you think that I could live with myself if I left you here alone with these bastards? Do you think that I could face Jed Bartlet if I left his wife here at the mercy of terrorists? Whether I can help you or not, I'm staying." 

Abbey could see that Toby was adamant about staying behind so she turned back to Zoey. 

"Don't make me do this, Mom." Zoey gripped Abbey's hand tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't leave you here, Mommy…Don't make me leave you here." 

"You listen to me, Zoey Bartlet." Abbey lifted her daughter's chin looking deeply into eyes that mirrored her own. Her daughter was a lovely girl, a sheltered, pampered next to youngest daughter of a family of great privilege. But there was also a strength in her, a fearlessness for which her husband had been so proud. "This is your chance to show us all what you're made of. You keep telling me that you're not a child anymore, and you're right. You're an adult and as such I need to be able to trust you to do this for me." 

"But…but how can you…you know…" 

"I have to hope that it will buy you time." It took all that Abbey had not to show her daughter her fear, her revulsion. "And I have to trust in your father that he will understand what I've done." 

Zoey nodded. She knew her father, knew how he felt about her mother and knew that he would forgive her pretty much anything. 

"Okay, good." Abbey smoothed Zoey's hair back then turned to Fayih. "So, will you help us? 

Fayih saw the bravery inside Abigail Bartlet and inside her daughter and felt shame that she was so weak. 

"I will get you the gum." 


	12. Deliver Us from Evil

"Hassan is coming. The others are still working on the electrical wiring. Now is your chance." Fayih stood before Abbey, and for one panicked moment Abbey wondered if she could go through with this. Wondered if she could bear to allow that animal to have her body. Wondered if she were sending Zoey and Aislinn to their death. Then she gazed down at the sleeping little girl in her arms. Aislinn had finally cried herself into a fitful sleep. The purpling bruise on her jaw stood out in stark contrast to the paleness of her skin and she held her swollen arm pitifully to her chest, whimpering whenever she was moved. Abbey had taken off her bra and formed a make shift sort of sling but she knew that it would still be painful when Aislinn moved. She was a surgeon, used to making quick, snap decisions, but as a mother holding the lives of her children in the palms of her hands the decisions did not come so easily. 

"Ash, honey…" Abbey pressed her lips into Aislinn's forehead. "You need to wake up, sweetheart." 

Aislinn blinked her groggy eyes up at her mother. 

"Hoot, Mumma…" Aislinn's bottom lip trembled as she woke to the pain in her arm. Her eyelashes were still wet from her tears and her big hazel eyes were just pools of pain. 

"I know it hurts, baby. That's why Mommy needs to get you some help. I want you to listen to me. I need you to be a big brave girl. Zoey is going to take you away from here. She's going to take you away from the bad men and bring you back to Daddy. Do you want to go home and see Daddy?" 

Aislinn nodded tears swimming in her eyes. "Wan my daddy." 

"I know you do. But your daddy is far away and you're going to have to be a very good girl for Zoey. I know your arm hurts and I know you're scared, but you have to keep very, very quiet so the bad men can't find you. Can you do that for me?" 

Aislinn nodded again, her terror of the bad men flashing in her eyes. Abbey felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Zoey's lip trembling in much the same way that Aislinn's had. 

"Mom…" That one word held a wealth of pain and uncertainty and caused a sob to catch in Abbey's throat. 

"Zoey, don't…" Abbey swallowed tightly. "You can do this. You HAVE to do this. I'm trusting you to get your sister to your father. This is the biggest thing that I've ever asked of you. I…" 

Abbey trailed off as Hassan entered the room, eyeing his captives as if they were garbage. Abbey transferred Aislinn into Zoey's arms and got to her feet. She approached the man, eyes down in the respectful manner he expected. 

"Ah…you are learning," Hassan grinned, then lifted Abbey's chin. 

"I need to talk to you. I…I want to make a deal." 

"Hmm.. Now THIS is interesting. What kind of deal are we talking about here?" 

"I'm afraid for my little girl. I don't want you to hurt her again. I'm willing to do what you want…whatever you want…I won't fight you…as long as you promise not to hurt my daughters again." 

"So, you are telling me that you are willing to 'sell' me your body." 

"My signature, my voice…my body… whatever you want." Abbey kept her eyes downcast knowing the revulsion that had to be burning in them. 

"Oh, I think you know what I want, you brazen little western whore. I can hardly wait to tell Jed Bartlet how cheaply his wife sold herself to me." 

The words stung and Abbey flinched from them but it didn't dampen her resolve. 

"You can tell him whatever you like." 

Abbey felt herself being shoved harshly against the wall, Hassan proving that despite her acquiescence, this act was not going to be a walk in the park. It was going to be brutal and…damaging. Forgive me, Jed…Oh God, please forgive me. She closed her eyes as the terrorist pressed a grinding kiss against her lips with enough force to draw blood. 

Sickened by what he was about to witness, Toby turned away and instead watched Zoey make her way quietly to the door. Hassan's back was to them and he was too busy kissing Abbey to notice the movement. 

Zoey turned back once as she moved to shut the door behind her and the last thing that she saw was her mother kissing Hassan Al Khaleel, his hands ripping at her pants and shoving their way inside. Tears burning her eyes, she held her baby sister tightly to her chest and raced out of the trailer into the dark and across the field trying desperately to get to the shelter of the woods. 

Abbey's eyes remained closed as she tried desperately to retreat within herself and close off to what was happening to her. As Hassan's hands moved to her breasts squeezing them hard enough to draw a cry of pain from her lips, she told herself to pretend that it was Jed, but that was impossible. Jed did not thrust his tongue savagely down her throat; his hands did not squeeze and pinch at her breasts so cruelly. Instead, she pictured Zoey running, running away with Aislinn through the night to safety. It was that vision that allowed her to remain limp and uncaring, letting Hassan touch her however he wished to touch her, letting him grind his disgusting erection into her and letting her ignore his piggish grunts of satisfaction. But, that wasn't what Hassan wanted. He didn't want Abigail Bartlet limp and yielding, he wanted her participating. He wanted her fighting. He thrust her harshly from his body and Abbey panicked. 

"What?" she asked. Her eyes frantically noted that the girls were gone and she saw the panic in Toby's eyes. 

"On your knees, whore." He pushed on Abbey's shoulder shoving her down to her knees. "You're going to service me exactly the way that you service the President." He saw Abbey's startled response to his statement, saw Toby's face redden. "Oh, yes, the Frenchman told us much about just what kind of a slut that you really are. I expect as good as the President gets." 

Hassan began unzipping his pants and Abbey felt the gorge rise in her throat. How was she going to do this? How was she going to "service" him without throwing up? She felt herself shaking, felt the tears filling her eyes as Hassan's erect penis sprang free from his pants. That she was good at this, she knew. Jed told her so often enough, but this wasn't Jed; this wasn't an act of love and desire. It was a nightmare. 

As the First Lady's head moved forward to take the terrorist into her mouth, Toby turned away from the unfolding scene. He turned away partially out of respect for her but also because he just could not stand to bear witness to such a despicable act. Rage and pain flowed through his veins and his fists opened and closed repeatedly as he tried desperately to break free of his bonds. He wanted to stop this from happening, wanted to rip Hassan's cock right off his body. Tears of impotent frustration blinded him for he knew he couldn't do a thing about it. 

Abbey swallowed reflexively trying to keep from gagging as she moved closer to the wormy appendage Hassan dangled in front of her face. In the end, it was a losing battle. At the first feel of him against her lips pressing for entrance, she felt her stomach violently contract and the meager contents in it were thrown up all over his penis and thighs. 

"YOU BITCH!" Hassan slapped her across the face, HARD. Abbey shrank back against the wall, wondering if her weakness was going to lead to him finding that her daughters were gone. Enraged now, Hassan grabbed her wrist and lifted her harshly to her feet. "It SICKENS you to suck MY cock when I know for a FACT you have no problem putting your whore mouth on the President. You're going to pay for this MRS. Bartlet. You're going to pay!" 

Hassan pulled Abbey's arm up behind her back and shoved her out of the room. Abbey didn't even care that he was shoving her toward a bedroom. Her only feeling was one of relief in knowing that with leaving the other room, he would not notice that her daughters were gone. Every moment they were not discovered missing meant more ground gained. Hassan pushed Abbey towards the edge of the bed. 

"Take off your clothes," he demanded. 

**** 

"Dammit, you're telling me that you're no closer to finding my family then you were a fucking day ago!" Jed fumed. 

"Jed," Michael placed a hand on his son-in-law's arm urging him to remain in control. 

"I didn't say that, sir." Alan Jeffries head of the FBI gazed over at Ron Butterfield and Leo McGarry. "We're pretty sure that they're still within Pennsylvania state lines and we do know who is holding them captive." 

"How?" Jed's head snapped up. 

"The necklace that belonged to your wife must have been forcibly ripped from her neck and in doing so skin was torn from the kidnapper's hand. We ran a DNA match. The man who tore the necklace off your wife was Hassan Al Khaleel." 

Jed turned to Leo for guidance; the name meant nothing to him. 

"Khaleel is…well known as an interrogator." Leo's eyes skittered around the room glancing at everything but Jed, something that was not lost on his friend. 

"So, what aren't you telling me?" Jed asked flatly. 

Ron could see the difficulty Leo was having in telling his friend about the sadistic monster that held his wife and daughters captive. It was Jeffries who finally spoke up. 

"Khaleel is not just an interrogator. He's THE interrogator; the man they turn to get results. He's a very sick individual. One of those men who gets an orgasmic pleasure at working over his victims. 

"Torture?" Jed turned to Jeffries. Jeffries nodded solemnly. 

"Rape?" Jeffries again nodded, this time unable to look at the President when he did so. 

Jed was not shocked by Jeffries admissions. He'd known from the start what his wife and daughters would be up against, but for Michael O'Neill it was just too much. Jed watched his father-in-law get to his feet and stumble from the room holding his stomach, the devastation at knowing what might be happening to his little girl too much for him. 

"If he's so damn well known, how did he get here? How did he slip through the cracks?" 

"Canada, he came in through Canada under an assumed name." 

It was strange for Jed not to be able to issue orders to these men. Their visit had not been a formal briefing for the President; it had been a courtesy visit to the family of the missing. Jed watched Jeffries leave, helplessness making him hunch over miserably. 

"Walken's going to bomb Qumar, isn't he?" Jed turned to Leo who had remained behind. 

"Yeah." The one word completely conveyed Leo's disgust. 

"He knows that's probably the kiss of death for my wife and daughters, doesn't he?" 

"He thinks it's important to give the world a show of force." Leo tried to keep the sneer out of his voice. 

"And in doing so getting my family killed." 

Leo stared straight ahead unable to tell Jed of the cold calculating moment in the situation room when he had brought that very subject up and Glen Walken had turned to him and informed him. "They're already dead. No matter what we do, they're already dead." Whether that was the case or not, it was certainly not something that Jed needed to hear. 

"Are you going somewhere?" Leo gestured toward the suit Jed was now wearing; all day long he'd been in jeans and shirtsleeves. 

"We're going to St. Joe's. Father Hugh offered to do a private Mass for us tonight." 

"That will be good for you all." Leo knew how important Jed's faith was to him, the strength he took from it. 

"I'll be praying that Glen doesn't bomb Qumar, not yet anyway. Not until I get them back. You're the voice of reason in there now, Leo…You love Abbey." It was tough for Jed to refer to that, to use his friend's feelings now for Abbey's benefit. 

"You know I do," Leo swallowed. "And I love Zoey and Aislinn, too." 

"And right now you're their only hope in that room. Please, help them." 

Leo touched his shoulder as he stood to leave. "You know I'll do whatever I can." 

Jed got to his feet and went to check on his father-in-law leaving Leo to find his way out. 

Jed found Michael slumped over a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Since his arrival he'd been so strong, so comforting, but right now, bowed with grief, he looked like a broken old man. 

"Dad?" Jed placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" 

"No, I can't say that I am…When I think of what those bastards might be doing to my little girl, to my grandbabies…" Michael wiped a shaky age spotted hand over his eyes. 

"I know, Dad." 

"Even if we get them back…Will they ever be the same?" 

"I don't know," Jed admitted. "I just want to get them back." 

"Daddy?" Nicholas stood in the doorway in the little miniature suit that he had worn to the Inaugural balls. Although the little boy hadn't been told what was going on with his mother and sisters, he was not a stupid child. The tension and commotion around him had caused him to become subdued and quiet and Jed had to wonder if that twin connection had come into play. He'd found the boy just sitting and staring at Aislinn's crib several times asking for his sister. Did he feel Aislinn's fear? Her pain? 

Now he stood with a shoe in his hand and Panda jumping at his feet trying to get the shoe back. 

"What have you got there?" Jed asked. 

"Mumma's soos." Nicky handed the fashionable purple and black slingback to Jed who winced when he saw that the puppy had been teething on the four-inch stiletto heel. It wasn't the first pair of Abbey's shoes the puppy had ruined. 

"I never thought I'd see the day when I wished Abbey would come flying in that door and start ripping into me about the puppy destroying another pair of her expensive Italian shoes." Jed sent a rueful glance Michael's way. 

"Mumma mad?" Nicholas asked. He'd witnessed his mother's fury over chewed up shoes before. 

"Yeah, Mama will be mad when she gets back. Now, are you ready to go to church?" 

"Me sit wif Gus?" 

"No, you're going to sit with me and you're going to be very good and very quiet, right?" Jed had seriously considered not taking Nicholas to the service but had given in at the last moment wanting the entire family together, a united front. 

Nicholas nodded earnestly. 

"That's my boy." Jed ruffled his hair, thankful that Nicholas didn't know what the service was all about. "Now let's go get your sisters." 

**** 

Danny Concannon wove his way down the halls of the West Wing as he had done many times before, only this time he was not looking for a story. Carol was not at her post outside CJ's door so he took the liberty of opening it a crack to see if CJ was busy. She was not busy. She was sitting at her desk her chin in her hand and a picture in her other hand. She looked exhausted and grief stricken. 

"Ceej?" 

CJ snapped to attention laying the photo down and clearing her throat of emotion, "Danny?" 

"Don't. Don't put on a show of strength for me. I didn't come here to find out how the President is holding up or how the new President is handling things." 

"Then why are you here?" 

"'Cause I thought you might need one of these." Danny reached out and pulled CJ into his arms holding her tightly. At first, she was stiff but it didn't take long for her to melt against him, to close her eyes and bury her cheek into his shoulder. Since this had happened, nobody had held her; nobody had comforted her. These people were more than just co-workers more than just friends. Aislinn was her GODDAUGHTER. She'd held that little girl less than an hour after she'd been born. It was so easy to remember the first time that she'd held her. The newborn had just finished nursing and Abbey was eager to show off her adorable new offspring. Aislinn had weighed next to nothing in her arms and the tiny fingers that had kneaded Abbey's breast so gently had closed over her own finger with surprising strength. Her milky little mouth had remained pursed as she continued to make little sucking motions and her big eyes blinked owlishly up at her as she absorbed the people who would come to make up her world. 

No, these people were family to her and that was something nobody in the press seemed to take into account. Nobody but Danny, that is. 

"I know how much they mean to you Ceej, and I'm so sorry." 

CJ backed away running a finger under her eye to catch a tear before it fell. "Thank you, Danny. It's just so awful, this horrible waiting." 

"Have you heard anything?" 

CJ eyed him warily, ever the press secretary. 

"Off the record, CJ. God, you can't think that I came in here to pump you for information." 

"I don't know what to think anymore. I'm sorry. I'm just exhausted." 

"It's okay." Danny lifted the picture from CJ's desk and smiled sadly. It was a picture of CJ holding Aislinn in front of the baptismal font flanked on each side by the beaming parents of the child, President and Mrs. Bartlet. 

CJ smiled warmly, if sadly at the picture. "I held Aislinn during the service," she told him. "It was really quiet and she got fussy. I didn't know what to do to keep her quiet. The President was having the same problem with Nicholas but he had gotten him quiet by letting him suck on his pinkie, so I did the same. It worked. I think I fell in love with my goddaughter at that moment. Bet you didn't know I even baby-sat them. You should have seen me that night; I was SO out of my element. They were such little hooligans getting food all over themselves, spilling bubble bath on the dog." She gave a soft laugh. "But, that night when I read to them and gave them their bottles and rocked them to sleep, they stole my heart. I can't bear to think of…" 

"Sssh…I know." Danny stroked her hair. 

"They aren't just the President and First Lady to me, Danny. They're family." 

It was true. To her they were more than just the President and First lady. They were Jed and Abbey. The President was Jed – the man who hated to take his vitamins and who loved to spout trivia, especially while playing poker with his staff. He was Jed – the man who liked to bet on just about anything and had to hide his one cigarette a day habit from his wife. He was Jed – the man who made her learn the entire Notre Dame fight song and then sing it to the press, and the man who liked to sneak away for a little "private staff" or "barbecuing" time with the First Lady. He was Jed – the man who woke his child up in the middle of the night just to hold him when he was feeling blue and the man who had jumped in front of a knife meant for his wife. 

The First Lady was Abbey – the woman who was always trying to fix her up on dates and urging her to dress a tad more risqué. She was Abbey – the woman she snuck out of the White House with, got drunk with, and went shopping with. She was Abbey – the woman who liked to buy sexy. naughty lingerie and who admitted to having sex with her husband on the kitchen table (and quite a few other non-conventional areas) when confronted with her Cosmo survey. She was Abbey – the woman whose birthing room she had sat outside of, cringing and empathizing with every agonized cry of childbirth, and the woman who had, one long afternoon in Maryland, spilled her guts to her about being raped back in Boston. No, these people meant far more to CJ than even she had realized. 

"Hey, CJ, you watching CNN?" Josh poked his head in, his eyes widening when he saw Danny. 

"Hey, Josh." 

"Danny. Hi." 

"Don't worry. I'm here on a personal visit. We were just talking about the First Lady." 

"She's a great woman." 

"She scares the crap out of you," CJ laughed. 

"Only when she's on the warpath over the President's schedule," Josh defended himself. "When she's not playing watchdog over the President, she's fine. I mean, how many other First Ladies do you know that would watch porn with you?" 

"Abbey BARTLET watched PORN with you?" Danny's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He knew first hand that the First Lady was not a prude by any standard but watching porn with her husband's staff was certainly something he'd never heard before. 

"Let's remember this is all OFF the record," CJ pinched him. 

"OW!" Danny rubbed his arm. "There was no need for THAT. Now tell me about this porn night." 

"Well, it wasn't exactly a porn night. It's not like we had some orgy planned." Josh grinned at CJ's discomfort with the conversation. "Abbey showed up at the hotel one night on the campaign trail when the President and Leo were in a meeting and Sam and I were partaking in a little evening entertainment." 

CJ snickered at his choice of words. 

"Anyway, she came in, grabbed a beer and a piece of pizza and just stood there watching and making comments until the President dragged her out. Sam nearly gave himself a hernia trying to find the remote control to shut it off." He chuckled at the memory. "She embarrassed the hell out of us, but I expect that's what she was going for." 

"She does like to turn the tables on you," Danny nodded. Danny knew the First Lady probably as well, if not better, than Josh. She had been his assignment when Bartlet was first running for President and, in the beginning, he had not been thrilled with the job. He wanted to be following the candidate, not his wife. But, from the very beginning, Abbey had fascinated him just as she had fascinated the world and suddenly his pieces, his articles were being picked up liked wildfire. He'd had a front row seat to watch as the intelligent, fashionable, witty, sexy, Dr. Abigail Bartlet became "ABBEY", world icon. 

"Yeah, she's been like that since the first time I met her." Josh leaned back against the wall. "I was supposed to be meeting with the candidate's wife to sort of 'vet' her for possible press issues. I was expecting, you know, a CANDIDATE'S wife – pearls, sensible heels, sensible short hair, sexless earth tones." 

"Yeah, THAT sounds like Abbey," Danny rolled his eyes. 

"EXACTLY," Josh grinned. "In walked this elegant small woman with long sexy red hair and legs that just didn't quit. And damned if she wasn't wearing 'fuck me' pumps." 

"Fuck me pumps?" CJ lifted a brow. 

"Yeah, you know those sexy skinny high heels she likes to wear. The ones that make a woman's legs look like a million bucks and make a man think about what it would be like to have them wrapped around his waist. Hence 'fuck me' pumps. I couldn't believe it when she introduced herself as Abigail Bartlet." 

"Your first thought being she might be a tough sell to middle America?" Danny asked. 

"No. My first thought being that Jed Bartlet was one lucky son of a bitch. Worrying about Middle America came later when Toby and I had to grill her about her entire life up until that point. You know, we had to make sure she'd never cheated on her college tests, had a drug problem, had an abortion, hired illegal aliens to care for her children, screwed around on her husband. You know the usual stuff. Abbey answered all the questions calmly and directly, but after we asked her about the adultery, she snapped our heads off and got a little testy. I knew we'd really pissed her off when she asked us if we also wanted to know what her favorite positions were in bed, you know, whether she preferred being on the top or on the bottom. We didn't know what to say. I think we just stared at her with our jaws gaping. As she got up to leave she told us, 'you can assure America there is nothing to worry about, I'm not going to try to run the show, I actually prefer being on the bottom…most of the time, anyway.' Then she tossed her head and walked out. Man, that is ONE fiery woman." 

"Guess she put you in your place," CJ chuckled. 

"Yeah, I knew then and there that Abbey Bartlet wasn't going to take any crap from anyone." 

"Will," CJ called out as she saw the man walking by her office with slumped shoulders. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" 

Will turned to them with a haunted look. "I have to prepare a speech. Two speeches actually, one for if we find the Bartlets alive and one if they are found dead." 

CJ's office went quiet as each person contemplated the impact of his statement. Contemplated the life force of that feisty, direct woman being snuffed out long before her time. 

**** 

Abbey lay back on the bed, HIS bed. She was completely nude, her hands duck taped to the iron rails of the bedpost, another strip of the tape covering her mouth, not because screaming would get her anywhere, but because not being able to breathe through her mouth would keep her from fighting too strenuously. Still, Hassan did not want all the fight taken out of the spirited woman. He loved a good challenge, and that was why, at the moment, her legs were untied. He paced beside the bed, also nude, stroking himself; enjoying the look of terror in Abbey's wide eyes as they followed him and the sheen of tears that filled them when she saw his engorged erection. Without her sharp tongue, she was just another woman, another whore, but when the time was right, when he was ready to pound himself into her body, he would remove the tape and listen to her scream, and scream and scream. Just the thought nearly had him in orgasm and he had to take a deep breath to calm himself down. 

He sank to the bed on one knee. "Ahhbby," he leaned over her and breathed into her ear capturing the lobe between his teeth and clamping down. Abbey whimpered behind the tape, forcing herself to breathe in and out through her nose to keep from panicking. 

"Ahhh…" he gave an evil little sigh of appreciation. "Your hair is naturally red." Abbey closed her eyes as she felt his filthy hand cover the mound between her thighs, praying for strength, praying for this to be over fast. 

"LOOK at me when I touch you!" Hassan viciously pinched Abbey's nipple and she arched with a muffled scream of pain. "You're going to LOOK at me while I fuck you." 

Abbey felt her legs yanked apart, felt Hassan working his way to position himself between her thighs. It was one of the hardest things she'd ever done not to kick at him, not to fight back, all in an effort to buy time for her daughters. She couldn't, however, help the rigid tenseness to her legs as she prepared for the onslaught of his rape, prepared for the pain. She stared up at the ceiling, avoiding Hassan's face. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to bear this if she had to look up at his sweating grunting face. She felt the tears trailing from the corners of her eyes and pooling in her ears. 'Please, please God, give me the strength to bear this.' Abbey desperately fought to retreat deeply within her mind, closing off completely from what was happening to her. Her thumb unconsciously twisted and turned her wedding rings as she often did when she was nervous. 'Please, please forgive me, Jed. Oh, God, forgive me…' 

Hassan dug his fingers deeply into the soft flesh of Abbey's hips positioned right at her entrance, feeling her whole body tighten at the touch, anticipating his slam forward. Had he not enjoyed seeing the fear in her eyes he might have done just that, but he had wasted too much enjoying the thrill of scaring her and just as he was about to thrust forward the door to the room slammed open. 

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" 

Hassan jerked back at the fury in Azim's voice and turned from Abbey's body. 

"Bartlet doesn't have to know I already fucked her." Hassan had no idea why Azim was so angry. 

"Yes, well, while you've been PLAYING with her, you let them get away, you STUPID rutting PIG!" Azim drew his fist back catching Hassan on the jaw. 

"Who?" Hassan asked, holding his hand to his jaw. "What are you saying?" 

"You let them get AWAY! Bartlet's daughters are GONE! Get off of her and go FIND THEM!" 

No…Abbey silently screamed, overwhelmed with frustration and fear. This couldn't be all for nothing. 'Run, Zoey…RUN!' 


	13. Deliver Us from Evil

Holding Aislinn tightly to her chest, Zoey ran across the field away from the trailer. She had no destination in mind, no plan except to get to the safety and darkness of the woods. With every terrified breath that she took, she expected to be grabbed from behind, to feel a bullet slam into her back. She didn't lose that fear even as she made her way into the dense forest. The running was more difficult once within the hidden confines of the woods. She stumbled over roots and rocks, branches ripped across her face and arms cutting her flesh and still she ran on, never looking back. She was literally running for her life and for that of her baby sister. She continued to run until her burning lungs gave out and would allow her to continue no further. Only then did she stop, leaning against a big tree to catch her breath while listening intently for the sound of followers. She pulled Aislinn back briefly from where the little girl's face was buried into her neck to make sure that she was all right. Her baby sister had not uttered a peep other than a few whimpers when branches lashed at her bare legs and now she gazed up at Zoey with solemn green eyes. 

'She needs me,' Zoey thought to herself. 'She's counting on me to get her home to Dad. I'm all she has.' It was the first time another human being had ever truly needed her and with the weight of that responsibility resting heavily on her shoulders, Zoey forced her burning legs and strained lungs to carry on; this time not in an all out sprint but a more enduring jog. Thunder clapped in the distance, and Zoey swallowed her panic at the flash of lightening that lit the woods. She felt Aislinn clutch her more tightly around the neck. Aislinn hated thunderstorms and Zoey knew that lightening could help the terrorists to find them. As she pushed her way through a thicket, she prayed the storm would pass them by. 

"ZOEY! ZOEY BARTLET, WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT HERE!" 

Ice ran through Zoey's veins at the familiar Arabic voice, and with a rush of adrenaline, she began sprinting again, sprinting to save her life. 

**** 

Dr. Millicent Griffith sat in the pew behind the Bartlet family. She was present, not as the Surgeon General but as the First Lady's best friend, one of the few non-family members invited to the private service. Having met Abigail O'Neill when she was ten years old at her first day at the Sacred Heart, Millie was the person other than Abbey's family who had known her longest. While Father Hugh stood before them reading a sermon of hope and faith, Millie's mind began to wander back to the first time that she'd met Abbey. She had just moved to Salem and was so nervous about her first day in a new school. As she hung back against the brick wall of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school for girls, a pretty girl with long red hair and serious green eyes had come up and introduced herself as Abigail O'Neill. Abbey had befriended her, showed her the ropes and gave her the scoop on each of the nuns who taught them. She soon found out that Abbey was a dead on mimic and Millie could still picture her that first day of school, her green eyes dancing with mirth as she impersonated the severity of Sister Mary Agnes and the airheaded loopiness of Sister Lucille. That day they bonded as kindred spirits often did, and they remained the best of friends through thick and thin sharing all the emotional ups and downs of adolescence and puberty. All those teenage firsts that were so desperately important at that age. 

They bought their first bras together, got their ears pierced together, went running to each other when they got their first periods and admired the smoothness of each other's legs the first time they were allowed to shave them. They talked on the phone for hours dissecting the cute boys at St. Mark's, as well as their first dates, their first kisses, their first broken hearts and, later, the first time they had sex. 

Millie had been the first in that department and she still remembered crying on Abbey's shoulder a few days after giving her virginity to Adam Burton the night of their senior prom only to have him spread the word around that she had done so. Abbey had been furious on her behalf and had gone to St. Mark's, their brother school and ripped him a new one in front of everyone, making sure that they all noted that he'd been a HUGE disappointment. Adam had been mortified and Millie had been able to laugh through her tears. That was the way that Abbey had always been and still was. She always fought for the ones that she loved. 

And, never had she loved anyone more than she loved Jed Bartlet. It had been Millie who had convinced Abbey to go the party where she ended up meeting Jed. In seeing them together and talking to Abbey afterwards, it was absolutely plain to see that the girl had fallen head over heels in love for the first time in her life. It had actually been quite humorous to watch her practical, controlling, "my life is all mapped out", best friend lose complete control over her emotions and her feelings for Jed, even if she had in the beginning been jealous of the power that he had over Abbey. 

Millie knew she had been the first one that Abbey had told when she lost her virginity to Jed over Easter break. She still remembered the breathless awe with which she spoke of it and her squealing excitement when she relayed the news that Jed had asked her to marry him. Back at school, Millie had teased her mercilessly over the way that she would hold her engagement ring up to the light to watch the diamond glitter. Not long after, she was one the first to know when Abbey suspected she might be pregnant. 

Later they had shared the joy of each other's weddings and pregnancies and the sorrows of miscarriages. They had seen each other through the pain of divorce, hers, and the devastation of rape, Abbey's. They had worked together and raised their children together. Abbey was Brynn's godmother and she was Ellie's. 

Millie's eyes fell to Ellie, seated at the right hand of her father. Her head was tilted to the side resting on Jed's shoulder. Millie had been there the night that Ellie was born, had braved a blizzard and made it to the farm just as Abbey was starting to push her out. The relief on Jed's face at her arrival was almost comical. The man had been pale as a ghost and sweating with fear. And yet, when the time came, when Ellie was about to crown, Millie had given up her spot between Abbey's thighs and asked Jed to deliver his child. The look of terror had been replaced on his face with one of stunned joy and awe as his warm wet daughter had slid from Abbey's tired body directly into his waiting hands. It was a look Millie knew she'd never forget. And now here they were father and daughter, holding hands, comforting each other and praying for the safe return of the woman who had truly given them both life. 

**** 

Zoey ran blindly through the pouring rain, her only goal to put as much distance between herself and the men calling her name as possible. As she pushed through the thick underbrush, she found herself on the bluff of a small creek. She remembered her father's words from when she was little girl and they used to camp out at the national parks. She could hear his deep commanding voice as if he were standing right beside her. "If you get lost girls, find a stream and follow the water downstream, most waterways will lead you to civilization." She grasped on to those words and climbed down the muddy hill to the water. She heard Aislinn whimper and knew all this jostling was not good for the baby's arm even with the makeshift sling her mother had made. She felt terrible for causing Aislinn pain, but she felt they would be less likely to be spotted in a flash of lightening down by the water than they would up on the bluff. 

"ZOEY! ZOEY BARTLET! COME OUT NOW OR WHEN WE FIND YOU YOU'RE DEAD!" 

Zoey shrank back against the embankment terror lancing through her. As her back hit the earth, she could feel a small indentation in the hill made by the roots of a large tree. If she continued to run out in the open, they were going to catch her. She didn't have any stamina left. She couldn't run. They were going to find her and when they did, they were going to cut off her head. She wasn't stupid; she watched the news. She knew what these terrorists did to hostages and SHE had pissed them off. This was her chance to hide from them. She climbed into the small hole in the hill and held Aislinn tightly to her chest. They were soaking wet and shivering with the cold. 

"You have to stay quiet, Ash," Zoey whispered. "You can't say a word or the bad men will find us." Even at her tender age, Aislinn knew all about the bad men. She buried her face into Zoey's chest and the little fingers of her good hand clutched at her big sister's neck. 

"ZOEY…ZOEY BARTLET…" 

They were right overhead now; Zoey could hear the branches cracking not ten feet from where they were hidden. She held her breath and bit her bottom lip hard to keep the terrified sob from bursting forth from her throat. Tears streamed down her muddy cheeks as she waited tensely for the moment one of the men would find their hiding spot. 

"ZOEY…DON'T MAKE US FIND YOU…YOU WON'T LIKE YOUR PUNISHMENT…ZOEY…" 

Zoey only allowed herself to breathe once she heard the men work their way further downstream, but still she didn't move not even when they doubled back and she could hear them making their way back to the trailer. She stayed hidden for almost another hour after they had past her by, too terrified to leave her safe haven. In that hour, an exhausted Aislinn had fallen asleep against her and she hated to wake her up. Before falling asleep, the poor thing had been shivering so terribly with the cold that her teeth had been chattering. Zoey had been shivering as well but she wasn't sure if it was the fear or the cold. It was amazing for her to think of how oppressively hot it had been in that trailer during the day and how cold it was now outside in the rain at night. 

She tried unsuccessfully not to think about what had happened to her mother in that trailer after she and Aislinn had run away and the others had discovered that they were missing. She couldn't get the image of her mother with Hassan Al Khaleel groping at her like some kind of sex maniac out of her head and she could only imagine what was going to happen to her now that the terrorists had doubled back for the trailer. Zoey was just as scared for her mother as she had been for herself and for Aislinn. It terrified her and filled her with guilt to think how her mother might be punished for her actions. 

**** 

"Leo?" 

Leo looked up with surprise to see Jordan standing in his doorway. 

"You haven't returned any of my phone calls." 

"Jordan, I've been a little busy you know." 

"Of course I know. Why do you think that I've been calling you all day? I wanted to be here for you, to support you." 

"I don't need support." 

"Oh, that's right. Leo McGarry doesn't need anyone." 

"Do you have any idea of what I'm dealing with? Do you have any idea of what Abbey and her daughters could be going through right now? I'm trying to help my best friend get his family back. I'm the ONLY one in that room who cares what happens to Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn Bartlet. The only one who doesn't see them as political pawns." 

"Do you honestly believe that, Leo?" Jordan was shocked. 

Leo thought long and hard for a moment. Thought about the concern on Fitz and Nancy's faces. "Well..." he rescinded. "Maybe not the only one, but I'm the only one in there who l…" 

"Loves her?" Jordan supplied sadly. "You're still hung up on Abbey Bartlet." 

Leo sat back in his chair defeated. He'd long ago come to terms with his feelings for Abbey but it was obvious that Jordan had not. 

"I can't play second fiddle forever, Leo." 

"What we have is different," Leo protested. 

"Yes, it is. But I can't be the physical woman in your life anymore knowing that you are still worshipping Abbey from afar. I knew that if I got involved with you, it meant I was always going to come in second to your job, I was prepared for that. But, coming in third behind a woman who is happily married to your best friend is a little more than I am capable of dealing with. I thought I could be the woman to make you forget your feelings for her but, evidently, that isn't the case. Don't worry about returning my calls, Leo. We're done." 

"Jordan, Jesus, don't do this to me right now." 

"I'm sorry. I know this is bad timing, but I need to get out now, Leo, before you really break my heart. I hope you do find someone who can make you forget Abbey. In three more years your work here will be finished, Jed and Abbey Bartlet will take their family home to New Hampshire and you are going to be one lonely man. Good-bye, Leo." 

**** 

"You think you're so smart? You think you've won?" Hassan paced at Abbey's bedside. He was soaking wet and taking long furious drags off his cigarette. With the rage and furor she had heard outside the bedroom door, she could only surmise with relief that her daughters had not been found. 

It infuriated him the way she looked at him still with that hint of disdain, as if she were BETTER than he was, as if she – a small, weak WOMAN – had beaten him. It infuriated him even more that she HAD beaten him, but she was not going to come through this unscathed. She might have helped her daughters to escape but she wasn't going to get away with it. 

"You stupid American bitch, you just signed your death warrant." 

Abbey's eyes widened with horror as Hassan drew his cigarette from his lips and dangled the red tip in front of her chest enjoying the look of fear in her eyes and the way she struggled against the tape that bound her wrists to the bedposts. 

"N…noooo…" Her frantic moans were muffled against the tape. 

"That's more like it." He flashed her a grin, ripped the tape from her lips and touched the tip of his cigarette to the creamy swell of her breast enjoying her shriek of pain and the way she thrashed to get away from the burning agony. 

"Hassan, enough. She's all we have left. We're going to need her for the feed." 

"The feed, the FEED. That IDIOT," he cast a disgusted look at Habib. "Has fucked things up so badly. It's been over twenty-four hours since we took them and we STILL don't have the feed up." 

"Do not question me." Azim reached into a bag and pulled out a syringe. "I don't trust her, use this and put her back." 

Hassan took the needle and approached the bed. Abbey tried to pull back from the syringe not knowing what kind of drug they were giving her, but it was no use. She couldn't fight the damn tape that held her immobile. She felt the prick of the needle in her arm and a quick burning sensation. She tried to control her panic by telling herself that they weren't killing her that they needed her for the feed and within moments she was unconscious. 

**** 

Toby sat back against the wall panting heavily. He had spent all his time, since Hassan had taken Abbey from the room, working frantically at getting the tape on his wrists to loosen. Abbey's tortured cries from the other room had spurred him on almost as much as her silence now did. Finally he had to stop and admit defeat; he wasn't going to get the tape off. He wasn't going to be able stop the assault on the First Lady. He wasn't going to be a hero and whisk her away to safety. He was stuck right there in the same darkened room until, God willing, help came for them. He couldn't stop himself from wondering if the help was going to be too late for Abbey. 

The woman had courage; he had to give her credit for that. The way she'd stood up to the terrorists refusing to do their bidding, the way she'd fought for her children and the way she had given up her body, her soul, for her daughters to escape showed him for the first time in his life the absolute true meaning of love. 

Sitting there alone, Toby finally had the chance to contemplate his own future. He'd been so worried for Mrs. Bartlet and her daughters he hadn't really allowed himself to dwell on his own predicament. He knew he was an afterthought. There had been no plan to kidnap him, and thus he had been spared the fear tactics that had been let loose on Abbey and the girls. Still, he knew that unless the cavalry came riding in soon he was going to die, just as Abbey was. 

With the thought of his own death came the thoughts of his children – of Molly and of Huck, just a few months old now. He had never really wanted children. Andy had been the one to push for kids and when it didn't happen, he was more relieved than not. That is, until he saw the toll that it was taking on his wife. Andy desperately wanted a child and not being able to conceive had torn her apart. Finally, it had torn THEM apart. 

Years later, when Andy had come to him and admitted she had continued have herself inseminated with his sperm and had finally conceived a child, he had wanted to be furious with her. Instead, the sheer joy in her eyes at their miracle was enough to convince him that it might be all right. He wanted so badly to believe that he might be an okay father. God knew he'd had a shitty role model but he now knew he didn't have to follow in his father's footsteps. Jed Bartlet hadn't. 

It was the President that gave him hope. He didn't know the details of Jed Bartlet's childhood but he did know that it included some type of physical abuse and that the abuse had partially shaped the man that he had become. However, in some ways that wasn't such a bad thing. Because of his relationship with his own father, Jed had been determined to have a great relationship with his kids. The man was devoted to his children. The easy teasing affection that he shared with Zoey was something Toby had often been witness to since she had spent so much time at the White House while in school. Later, after the twins had been born, he'd seen up close just what kind of a hands-on dad that Jed was. He'd had a front row seat to the most powerful man in the world changing his kids' diapers in the Oval Office. He had gone to the Residence when the First Lady was away for the weekend and watched the frazzled President try to wean his babies from the breast to the bottle. It still made him chuckle to remember Josh's exasperation with the screaming infant and how he'd asked the President just WHAT the baby wanted since he was having no part in the bottle Jed was placing between his lips. The President had calmly looked him in the eye and told him, "He wants me to breast feed him." Sam had felt the need to inform them all that he believed that to be physically impossible. 

Still, in spite of the hope that watching the President had given him, Toby knew that his situation was entirely different. He didn't feel connected to Andy's pregnancy the way that the President had with Abbey's. He didn't live with Andy; he hadn't held her hair back while she threw up with morning sickness the way the President had with Abbey. He hadn't been there to rub Andy's back or her feet or get her a throw pillow for the small of her back like the President had for Abbey. He hadn't slept with his arms wrapped around Andy to feel his babies kicking and punching at him the way the President had with Abbey. He hadn't been kept up all night with Andy's uncomfortable tossing and turning giving her back rubs to try to help as the President had with Abbey. He hadn't snuck down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to bring Andy whatever bizarre snack she was craving as the President had with Abbey. He hadn't read books on birthing positions and attended Lamaze classes with Andy the way the President had with Abbey. 

But, in a surprising turn of events, he had been there to witness his children's birth just as the President had with Abbey; the difference being that when the President and Abbey left the hospital with THEIR twins, they went together to the same home. In his case, Andy went back to her apartment; and after a couple of hours of visiting, he went home to his. He did not get up in the night with a crying newborn. He did not change diapers, give bottles or get spit up on like the President did, but he did love his children. He might not see them very often but he did look forward to the time when they were older and could spend a night or a weekend with him. He looked forward to their first words, their first day of school and their bar and bat mitzvahs. He wanted to take his son to Yankee Stadium and walk his daughter down the aisle. He wanted the chance to watch them grow up and it deeply saddened him to think that it might not happen – that his children might never know their father. 

Toby was still deep in thought when Hassan entered the room carrying Abbey in his arms. Horror filled his eyes as he realized that his worst fears about what had been happening to Abbey were materializing before his very eyes. A man's shirt that had been thrown over her nude body was all that covered Abbey and her head lolled unconsciously against Hassan's shoulder. A blind fury overtook Toby as he saw before him evidence of the unspeakable horrors they had put the First Lady through. 

"YOU SON OF BITCH WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Enraged, Toby tried to jump to his feet but the tape pinning his wrists and his ankles kept him immobile. 

"Relax, infidel. She is not dead, maybe she just wishes that she was." 

**** 

Nicholas was heavy in Jed's arms as he carried the sleeping toddler into the nursery. He had fallen asleep almost as soon as they got to the car. Isabelle entered the nursery just behind him but he shook her off. He didn't want the nanny taking care of his son, not tonight. Somehow that just didn't seem right, not with his mother missing. Jed carefully slipped off the boy's pants and shirt. Nicholas twisted and sighed but did not awaken until Jed began changing his diaper. 

"Daddy?" He blinked sleepily and stuck his thumb in his mouth. 

"I'm right here, buddy. You just go to sleep." 

"Where Mumma?" 

"Mommy will be back soon," Jed tried to sound definite. 

Nicholas twisted on the changing table quickly noting that his sister's crib was still empty. 

"Where Azlin?" 

"Aislinn is with Mommy just like you're with me. They'll be home soon." 

"Wan my mumma," Nicky's lower lip began to tremble. Jed knew it was a response to being overtired, but he couldn't help but wonder if the boy had any inkling that his mother and sister were in danger. 

"I know you do, but Daddy's here and I'm going to tuck you in." 

"No seep…no seep…wan Mumma…wan seepy my mumma!" Nicholas began to cry. 

Jed could see the boy was working his way into a full-fledged tantrum. 

"Okay, okay, calm down, Nick. Mommy isn't here to sleep with you, but I'll lay down with you. Okay?" 

"'Kay," he sniffed. "Bubba." 

"Nicholas." Jed ran a weary hand through his hair, not sure if he was up for this fight. 

"Wan BUBBA," Nicholas demanded. 

It was on the tip of Jed's tongue to remind the boy that his mother had been weaning him off his night time bottle, but as he fixed the tabs on the diaper and looked into the innocent eyes of his son, it seemed like such a small thing. If drinking from a bottle comforted him than he wasn't going to deprive him of that luxury. 

Fifteen minutes later, Jed lay back in his bed wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Nicholas lay beside him sucking sleepily on his bottle as he valiantly fought closing those heartbreaking baby blues. Jed propped his cheek on his hand and tenderly watched his son fall asleep. He rubbed the little boy's belly, tried to sing to him the lullabies that Abbey sang and prayed as he had prayed earlier in church for God not to leave this poor child motherless. Thinking he was asleep, Jed started to pull the dangling bottle from his lips only to have Nicholas start to suckle fiercely again. Jed gave a little half smile. He used to do the same thing as a newborn at Abbey's breast. Jed had loved to just sit back and watch his son nurse in his wife's arms and when he was sure the boy had fallen asleep against her breast, he would move to take him away from her. Unwilling to be parted, Nicholas would latch on again to her nipple, suckling away even more fiercely. 

Jed swallowed tightly and brushed the fair hair back off Nicky's forehead. He didn't know how the little boy was going to take it if he were parted forever not only from his mother but also from his sister, his twin. No matter what happened with Abbey, Zoey and Aislinn, Jed knew the ramifications to his family were going to be devastating. 

Finally with Nicholas sound asleep, his bottle thrown on the floor where Panda immediately chewed up the nipple, Jed carried him back to his crib waiting for a few minutes to make sure he wasn't going to wake up. When he returned to his bedroom, Admiral Hackett was waiting. 

"You again," Jed grumbled. 

"I want to check your vitals again before you go to bed." 

Jed stuck his arm out automatically and Hackett wrapped on a blood pressure cuff. 

"Still high, but I guess that's to be expected." 

"Yeah." 

"You look exhausted. Are you getting any sleep at all?" 

"I've taken a couple of cat naps." 

"You need more than a cat nap, sir. Your wife and daughters are going to need your strength and you're going to be too wiped out to give it to them." 

"I can't sleep," Jed admitted. "Every time I close my eyes, the images are there dancing away – my family screaming for me to help them and us not able to find them." 

"That's understandable. Why don't you let me give you a sleeping pill?" 

"No, if there's any word on the girls, I want to be able to hear it. I'll try to get some sleep, I promise." 

"I'm going to hold you to that." Hackett packed up his supplies and left. 

Jed eyed the bed longingly. He was exhausted and it would be nice just to close his eyes for a few minutes. But, he couldn't do it. Not in that bed. That bed held too many Abbey ghosts. He grabbed his pillow and a blanket and turned to where Max was pacing from the door to Abbey's side of the bed, sniffing at where she usually slept and whining. The big dog often reacted that way when he was waiting for his mistress to return but tonight it was too sad, too poignant for Jed to deal with. 

"You miss her too, eh, buddy?" Jed gave him a scratch behind the ear and Max turned his soulful brown eyes Jed's way. "Yeah, I know just how you feel." 

He opened the door and headed towards the living room. "I'm sleeping out here tonight, boys." 

If the agents were surprised by the President's decision to sleep on the couch even when his wife wasn't around to be pissed at him, they didn't let on. They nodded stoically and stared straight ahead. 

Jed had just finished making his bed on the couch when Ellie came in wearing her bathrobe and carrying a steaming mug and a bowl in her hands. 

"What are you doing out here?" she asked. "I was just coming to your room." 

"Can't sleep in there," he shrugged attempting a nonchalance that just didn't quite make it across and sat slumped on the couch. Ellie's heart ached for him. All her life her father had been a bigger than life presence – strong, self confident, powerful, the king of any room that he walked into. She had never seen him looking so defeated, so sad, so boyishly lost. Never had she felt the maternal urge to take care of him before. 

"That's okay. But you need to eat something, Dad. I made some tea and chicken soup." Ellie sat beside him placing the bowl and mug on the coffee table. 

"I don't have a cold, Eleanor," Jed turned a half smile her way. 

"The tea is herbal, it will help you sleep. And, you said you said the idea of food makes you nauseous, so the soup and oyster crackers should settle well in your stomach. You need to keep your strength up, Dad. You don't know when Mom and the girls will need it." 

Jed turned to his daughter with sad blue eyes. His hand reached out to gently caress her cheek. "You are so much like your mother, Ellie." 

"That's the best compliment you've ever given me, Daddy." Tears filled Ellie's eyes. Then just like her mother would have done, Ellie cleared her throat of the strangled emotions and handed Jed a spoon. "Now EAT." 

"Yes, ma'am. I know better than to fight a Bartlet woman with an agenda." 

Ellie smiled and leaned back watching her father eat his soup and sip and grimace at the tea he had never liked. He didn't eat it all Ellie noted, but some was better than nothing. 

"You gonna try and get some sleep now?" she asked, pulling the covers back on the couch. 

"Yeah." Jed slid underneath them. 

"Okay, then goodnight." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Daddy." 

"I love you too, sweetheart." 

Eyes blurry, Ellie made her way to the kitchen where she found Elizabeth warming milk. 

"Can't sleep?" Ellie asked. 

"Not me, Annie. She's been having nightmares. Did Dad eat anything?" 

"Half a bowl of soup, some tea." 

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to help you more with him. I feel like you're shouldering a lot more of this than me." 

"It's okay, Liz. You have Annie and Gus to worry about, and you've been doing wonders keeping Nicky preoccupied. We're all doing what we need to do. I like helping Daddy. I don't like the circumstances but I feel closer to him than I ever have before. I like being able to help him." Ellie set the dishes in the sink and turned to her older sister. "Liz, do you really think they would let Mom and the girls go even if Daddy made Walken do what they want?" 

Elizabeth was quiet for a long moment and she took a deep breath. "I think Mom and the girl's only hope is that the FBI finds them and finds them soon." 

"That's what I thought," Ellie nodded, then turned her head toward the doorway to the room where her father was attempting to sleep. "I just don't know how he's going to make it if something happens to them." 

Elizabeth's shiny eyes followed her sister's. "I know." 

**** 

The gray light of dawn brought renewed hope for Zoey as she stumbled exhaustedly down the edge of the creek. Her feet were numb from the icy creek water, which was probably a good thing because the last time she looked at them they were horribly cut, bruised and blistered, her twisted ankle swollen. Her arms throbbed and burned with an intensity she had never felt before. Aislinn was a dead weight in her arms. About a half-hour earlier, she had tripped and fallen landing hard on the forest floor which was when she had twisted her ankle. Aislinn had cried out with the pain and had then become silent. Zoey wasn't sure if she should be thankful or terrified that the little girl was unconscious. Right now, she was thankful because she was completely exhausted. She wasn't sure how she was keeping her feet moving and she was sure her lurching stumbles would have been excruciating for Aislinn had she been awake. 

With the rising of the sun, Zoey hoped the going would become easier and that the heat would warm their wet, frozen bodies. She was so tired, so afraid of falling that she watched the ground rather than where she was going, so she didn't notice the overpass until she was close enough to hear a car go by. She looked up, eyes blurry with fatigue and her relief was so great she nearly fell to her knees. She had made it to a highway. Quickly, she scrambled up the embankment and over to the edge of the road. Still, the fear of being captured was all-encompassing and she hid with her sister in the bushes waiting until she was sure of the vehicle before stepping out to stop it. 

Skip MacKenzie almost missed the young woman holding the little girl on the side of the road. Having the whole highway to himself at this hour of the morning, he was going a bit faster than he normally did. At first he thought the movement was a deer, but when he caught a glimpse of them as he passed them by he realized it was a girl and a child and he pressed on his breaks and pulled over to the shoulder. He got out of his cab and approached them warily. He had done two tours in Vietnam and he knew you couldn't always trust the innocence of women and children. The young woman in her torn dirty clothes stumbled toward him and Skip could see that she was crying. Could see that the child was not moving. As she got closer, Skip's eyes widened. 

"My God, you're Zoey Bartlet." 

Zoey nodded, tears making muddy tracks down her cheeks. "Please…please you have to help us. My father…He's…" 

"I know who your father is, sweetheart," Skip spoke to her soothingly as he had his troops in 'Nam. This girl had the same wild-eyed look of the men who had seen battle. He didn't know what kind of horrors Zoey Bartlet had escaped from. 

"My sister…She needs help." 

Skip looked down at the baby girl in Zoey's arms. Her face was so pale he could see the tiny blue veins in her closed eyelids and her lips had a bluish tinge to them. "Yeah, she certainly does." Skip hoped with all his heart that she wasn't beyond help. 

**** 

In spite of his promises to his doctor and his daughter, Jed did not sleep – could not sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, guilt would start to eat away at him. He couldn't lie comfortably sleeping when he didn't know how his wife and daughters were sleeping. Were they hurt? Were they scared? Were they wondering why they hadn't been found yet? Were they wondering what he was doing to get them back? 

Jed heard the door click shut, heard Max's low growl. 

"Sssh…Ssh…it's just me." The man tried to calm the dog. 

"Leo, I'm awake." Jed sat up, hair sticking up in all directions attesting to his tossing and turning. 

"I have news." Leo turned on the light and Jed could see that he was grinning. "The girls have been found." 


	14. Deliver Us from Evil

"Give me the details, Leo." Jed had thrown on a pair of jeans and a dress shirt and was now flying on Marine Two over Washington D.C. on his way to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital to meet his family. 

"I don't have many details. They were found on a deserted stretch of Route 76 between Willow Creek and Harrisburg. A trucker found them on the side of the road." 

"How did they get there? Were they okay?" 

"Like I said, I don't have all the details. The trucker realized who they were and used his cell phone to call 911. The dispatcher alerted the FBI. He said they were alive but pretty bedraggled from being out all night in the rain. He did say that it looked like Aislinn was going to need medical attention, so the Service was meeting him in Harrisburg to take them to the hospital at Penn." 

"Obviously they escaped. Don't we need to be worried that he was followed?" 

"The trucker assured us that no more harm was going to come to the girls." 

Jed smiled. "I'm going to owe that man big time. I can't believe it, Leo. I can't believe that this nightmare is over and my girls are safe. I can't believe they managed to find a way to escape." Jed was still tense; he would be until he saw his girls, but his relief was incredibly apparent to all who saw him on the flight. His anticipation was so great that he started to descend from Marine Two before the stairs to the helicopter had been completely lowered. He ducked under the blades, a natural reflex, and raced into the emergency room that had been cleared out by the Secret Service. 

"My wife. My daughters. Where are they?" Jed breathlessly leaned against the nurse's station. 

The nurse frowned. Didn't the man know that Abigail Bartlet had not been found with her daughters? "Your daughters are being examined right now, Mr. President, but…" 

"Mr. President." A middle-aged woman in scrubs came forward with her hand extended. "I'm Dr. Stevenson, I've been examining your daughters." 

"How are they?" 

"Remarkably well, in spite of everything. Both were suffering from exposure. It got pretty cold in the rain last night. Aislinn has a pretty severe diaper rash and they both have a lot of superficial cuts and bruises. Zoey has a badly sprained ankle, but it's Aislinn we're worried about. During her captivity, her arm was broken." 

Jed visibly paled and leaned against the wall. "They…they broke her arm?" His voice was barely above a whisper. It was unbelievable to him that any person could be so cruel as to break the arm of a child, let alone the arm of his sweet precious little Aislinn. 

"Yes, it looks like a fracture of the radial bone but we'll know more when we do x-rays. Dr. Bartlet tried to stabilize the limb, but I'm afraid all the jostling through the woods created a lot of pain; and between that and being exposed to the harsh elements last night, it caused some problems. When Aislinn was brought in, she was unconscious and shocky. We've given her some intravenous fluids but I'm afraid the trauma of the kidnapping has been too much for her." 

"What do you mean? She isn't…." 

"Oh, no, sir. I'm sorry I didn't mean to give you that impression. It's just that your little girl is terrified. She doesn't want the x-ray technicians to touch her. I'm afraid she got quite hysterical. I was wondering if you would come with me. Maybe seeing you will calm her." 

"Yes, of course." Jed followed the woman down the hall trying to prepare himself for seeing his little girl. He wasn't prepared for what he saw when he entered that room. Aislinn was in a child's hospital gown and even with an IV in her arm, she was silently fighting the man who was trying to position her on the table for x-rays. Her fair hair was filthy, caked with mud but her face had been washed clean, exposing a large purple bruise on her jaw and on her forehead. Her pale skin was marred by quite a few little cuts from their wild run through the woods. Jed watched her struggle, her tiny thin limbs so vulnerable and yet so fierce. He was her father and he had never seen her that way. What had been done to her to cause her to fight as if her very survival depended on it? Watching her terrified pitiful struggles was more than his heart could bear and he stepped towards her. 

"Aislinn." Jed moved to stand by the table. 

Aislinn stopped struggling at the sound of his voice and her wide eyes moved to the man who now stood before her. The man who could make all the monsters go away – her father. Without a word Aislinn threw herself into his arms and began to sob. Strangely enough, her sobs were as silent as her fighting had been, her little body silently shaking. 

"Ssh…ssh…it's okay. Daddy's here now. It's okay, baby, Daddy's got you." Unmindful of the dirt, Jed nuzzled his lips into her hair. He closed his burning eyes and thanked God for her safe return. "Daddy's here now, sunshine. Nobody is going to hurt you." He continued to hold her, rocking her and comforting her, his heart constricting with the idea that he might never have heard her giggle again, never seen her eyes light up when she called out "Daddy!"; never held her cradled in his arms again like he was now, holding her as he had from the moment of her birth. Dr. Stevenson allowed the reunion to go on for a few minutes and then she approached father and daughter laying a hand on Jed's shoulder. 

"Aislinn." She peered down at the little girl whose face was still buried in her father's chest. "We need to take some pictures of the boo-boo on your arm." 

Aislinn shook her head negatively clutching onto her father even more tightly. 

"How about if your daddy holds your hand while we do it?" 

Aislinn looked up at Jed, her face red and blotchy, her eyes questioning. 

"Do you want me to hold your hand?" he asked. 

Aislinn nodded. Her cold fingers felt so tiny and fragile in Jed's hand, yet they were strong enough to refuse to release her hold on him even as the technicians tried to position her on the paper of the examination table. Her pinched little face focused on Jed and he could see her eyes water when they moved her arm and felt her body tense with the pain, but she didn't utter so much as a whimper. It was as if she were simply resigned to the pain. 

"You're such a brave, brave little girl, Ash. I'm so proud of you, sunshine…" 

When they were finished, Jed stayed with her while they gave her a sedative so they could set her arm. He sat by her bed stroking her cheek and singing "her" song to her. It was a song he often sang, a song that never failed to make her smile because she believed he had made it up just for her. 

> _"You are my sunshine_  
>  My only sunshine.   
> You make me happy,   
> When skies are gray.   
> You'll never know dear,   
> How much I love you.   
> Please don't take my sunshine away."

He continued to sing until he was sure that she was out and then he stood and approached her doctor. "Does she have any other injuries?" he asked. "You know anything internal." 

"Not that we are aware of, but that will be easier to determine now that she is sedated. She was so frightened and we didn't want to scare her anymore than she was. Also, while she is under sedation we're going to examine her for any evidence of a sexual assault." 

"SEXUAL assault?!" Jed was horrified. "She's TWO!" Nausea roiled in his belly at the idea of one of those bastards molesting his baby girl. Of course he'd known the possibility had been out there for Abbey and for Zoey and the idea made him want to put his fist through a wall, but he'd never associated that kind of damage being done to his baby. Jed turned to the doctor with eyes gone icy cold with hatred and fury. "If they did that to her…if they molested my little girl, I swear to you right now that I will KILL them MYSELF." 

Dr. Stevenson moved forward laying a comforting hand on Jed's shoulder. She'd been a pediatrician for twenty-five years; she'd seen the horrible acts that had been committed on innocent children and she had witnessed their parent's rage and grief more times than she cared to acknowledge. She was not shocked by the President's outburst. 

"It's just a precaution, sir. It's not the typical M.O. in this type of kidnapping. Your older daughter said that neither of them was raped and she was with Aislinn the whole time. We just want to be sure that she isn't covering something up out of fear or shame." 

Jed nodded; he knew only too well the shame of rape. As he left the room planning to visit Abbey and Zoey, he turned back to Dr. Stevenson. 

"Why isn't she speaking?" he asked. 

"What?" 

"My daughter is a little chatterbox. You can't shut her up. When she was fighting those technicians and when she saw me, she didn't say a word. Even when she was crying, the only noise she made was her sniffles." 

"I'm sure it's just the trauma of everything. She's scared and she's confused. She'll come around. Now, this is Zoey's room." She moved to open the door. 

Jed nodded, "Where is my wife?" 

"Your wife?" The doctor swallowed. How had the President not been told that his wife had not been brought in with his daughters? 

"Yes, my wife and Toby Ziegler were with my daughters." 

"Sir…" Dr. Stevenson laid a gentle hand on the man's forearm. "Why don't we go sit down?" 

At that moment, a pale frantic Leo came around the corner. "Do you know?" The fear was dancing in his eyes. 

"Know what?" Jed looked from the doctor to his best friend. "For chrissake, don't just stand there tell me." 

"She wasn't with them. Abbey wasn't with them. The terrorists still have her and Toby." 

**** 

Abbey tried to dig her way out of the drug-induced haze that clouded her mind. Sweat trickled down hairline and her back and she found it increasingly hard to breathe. When she tried to move, she realized that her wrists were taped up again. She blinked her eyes trying to clear them of the blackness and as she attempted to stretch her cramped legs, she realized that she was not in the same room she had been in before. She was in a closet, a small, dark, airless closet. Fingers of fear moved their way up her spine and claustrophobia immediately set in. What if they'd gone away? What if they'd fled and left her here to die? Her heart pounded erratically with her panic and she kicked frantically at the door. She was weak now, much too weak to kick for very long. Her body just did not have the fuel that it needed to function normally. She was severely dehydrated, hadn't eaten anything in two days and her body had been pumped full of sedatives. 

Knowing she had to calm herself before she passed out, Abbey tried to control her breathing taking in long slow breaths of air and releasing them until her heart no longer raced with panic. She had to fight that panic, control it; the only other alternative was to go mad. She had to ignore where she was; forget that she was in this tiny closet. To that end, she let her mind drift to happier days. She was back at the farm and it was Christmas. She was sitting on Jed's lap and they were smiling as they watched their children open their gifts. She was building a snowman, rolling the ball of snow with Nicky, throwing snowballs at Jed. She was rolling in the snow with Jed, the kids were laughing and he was kissing her. 'Jed, oh, God, Jed, please find me…Please.' 

"So, I see hear our little captive is awake." 

Abbey blinked at the bright light that spilled into the dark closet when the door was opened. She didn't say a word, just blinked at Hassan owlishly. Rage coursed through his veins at her strength. Why wouldn't she beg? Why wouldn't she plead for her life? Now that her girls were gone, Abigail Bartlet's spine had turned to steel. Her weakness had been her daughters and they had let them get away. 

Grateful for the fresh oxygen, Abbey took in deep breaths of air. She was still lightheaded as Hassan pulled her up to her feet. 

"Let's go. You have a TV appearance to make." 

**** 

Jed was pacing furiously. The utter devastation of finding out that his wife had not been rescued; that she was still at the mercy of her captors manifested itself in rage. Rage at the captors, rage at the FBI and rage at himself for allowing his guard down and allowing his hope to flourish. Leo was the man who took the brunt of his rage, allowing his friend to vent all the frustration of two days of impotence. 

"Daddy?" Zoey stood in the doorway in her hospital gown; she had heard her father's angry voice from her hospital bed. Dark circles shadowed her hollow eyes, scratches stood out against her pale face and she looked about thirteen years old again. 

"Zoey," Jed's rage fizzled out as he took in the small waif like form of his daughter. Gently, so as not to hurt her if she were injured, he pulled her into his arms. Zoey cried against his chest much as her baby sister had earlier. 

"She didn't have to be captured," Her words were muffled against Jed's chest. 

"What?" Jed pulled her back and lifted her chin to look into her tormented green eyes. 

"Mom didn't have to captured. When they started shooting the agents and all hell broke loose, Mom's agent got her hidden. The kidnappers caught Aislinn and me but they didn't know where Mom was. They were leaving without her." 

"But, how…how…" 

"She saw them taking Aislinn and me away and she came out of hiding. She told me she wasn't going to let them take us without her. She could have gotten away, Daddy, but she gave herself up to try to save Aislinn and me!" Zoey began to sob harsh painful sobs of guilt. Tears pooled in Jed's eyes at his daughter's words. He'd always felt that his wife was courageous, but now he KNEW that she was. She'd given up her life for her daughters without so much as a blink of an eye. THAT was courage. 

"She gave herself up to save us and I just LEFT her there. Oh, God, Daddy, I just left her there…" 

"Ssh…ssh…" Jed didn't know what had happened with their captors, but he knew that his daughter needed reassurance in the worst way and that he held her fragile psyche in the palm of his hand. 

"I'm sure you did the right thing, Zoey. You got Aislinn to safety." 

"Sir…" Ron stood back, not wanting to intrude but knowing that time was of the utmost importance. 

"What is it, Ron?" 

"I hate to do this right now. But we need to debrief Zoey." 

"I don't think she's in any shape…" 

"It's okay, Daddy." Zoey pulled back, shades of her mother's strength in the set of her shoulders. "We have to get Mom back and I'm the only one who knows where she is." 

"Time is of the utmost importance." Ron lifted a questioning eye to Jed. 

"Okay," Jed acquiesced. "Let's go." He started to lead Zoey into her room. 

Zoey's mind lingered on the last sight she'd had of her mother kissing and being groped by Hassan Al Khaleel. "I'd like to do this alone, Daddy. Please." 

Jed looked stunned. He saw the worried look in Zoey's eyes and wondered just what it was that she didn't want him to know. He clamped down on his natural inclination to insist upon being present. "If that's what you want, sweetheart." 

"It is." 

**** 

Jed tried not to think about what his daughter was telling the FBI. He paced like a caged tiger in front of her door. 

"Why don't you sit down," Leo suggested. "You're making me dizzy." 

"I want to know what she's telling them, Leo. What is my daughter telling STRANGERS that she can't tell me?" 

"I don't know, Jed. But sometimes it's easier that way. It's easier to talk to a stranger than someone who is too close to the situation." 

"I'm her FATHER, Leo. Zoey knows she can tell my anything. You don't think…" Jed trailed off a lump forming in his throat. 

"No, Dr. Stevenson said there was no evidence of sexual assault." 

Jed nodded. "Then what could it be. What is my daughter trying to hide from me?" 

"I'll be right back. My pager's going off. Walken probably wants an update." Leo walked away to find a private area to make his call. 

Jed continued to pace. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop but when the nurse left his daughter's room leaving the door slightly ajar and he heard Zoey's voice breaking, he stood there transfixed. 

"Mom knew Aislinn needed to get to a hospital to get her arm fixed. She came up with a plan. One of the terrorists – the man who was touching her during the night–" 

The agent looked down at his notes. "Hassan Al Khaleel?" 

"Yes. She knew that he had an interest in…well…us. The others were always trying to keep him reined in. Anyway, she um…she…my mother's not a bad person…" Zoey's shoulders began to shake. Tears stung Jed's eyes and he longed to stride forward and pull his little girl into his arms. 

"Your mother was in a very difficult situation, Zoey. I'm sure she only did what she had to do." 

Jed was grateful for Ron Butterfield's gentle presence. 

Zoey nodded through her tears. "It was a last resort." 

"How did you get away, Zoey?" 

Zoey's voice was barely a whisper, but the words screamed through Jed's head. "My mother offered him her body in exchange for him leaving us alone. She told him that she would let him have sex with her if he promised not to hurt Aislinn anymore. Then, while she distracted him we were supposed to make our get away." 

"And did the plan work?" 

Zoey nodded sadly. "The last thing I saw when we left was my mother kissing him. He had her pressed up against the wall and she made sure that his back was to us." 

It was the involuntary soft moan that escaped Jed's lips that drew Zoey's attention. 

"Daddy!" She was clearly horrified that he'd heard what she said. 

Jed pulled himself together, swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat at the image of his wife being violated, and cleared his throat. 

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, baby. I'm sorry." 

Ron pitied the ashen-faced look on the President's face. Clearly, the man was in a shocked kind of agony. 

"She didn't want to do it, Daddy. She HATED him. He was always pawing at her, always threatening us. He broke her finger and he broke Aislinn's arm. She HATED him; she only did it because she knew he was going to kill us, and I only left her because Aislinn was hurt so bad and I had to get her to a hospital." 

Jed did move forward then. He pulled Zoey back into his arms. "I'm not mad at your mother for what she did, Zoey. I want to kill the son of a bitch that forced her into that situation, but I could never hold it against her. Your mother did what she had to do to save you and to save Aislinn. I can't blame her for that." 

The pain in Jed's heart was like a vice squeezing tighter and tighter. How desperate Abbey must have been to do something like that. He'd seen his wife in mama bear mode before and could see her being as fierce and courageous as a lioness protecting her cubs. But still, for her to allow herself to be violated by a man after all she had been through with Marcus Hughes was an act of strength and courage and selflessness that nearly caused him to break down and weep. The physical and psychological damage that Hughes rape had done to her had had far reaching impact on their lives, and in spite of that, Abbey had been willing to go through it all again if it meant saving her daughters. 

When she had stopped crying, Zoey stayed in Jed's arms and tried to give the cartographers her best description of how far she had come through the woods, relayed the lay of the creek, distinguishing landmarks, all the things she'd filed in her brain for future use. She was just finishing up when Leo entered the room. 

"Sir?" 

Jed looked up. He had been "Jed" to Leo over the past couple of days. Now it was back to "sir". 

"What is it, Leo?" 

"I just got a call from the White House. The kidnappers have made contact. In one hour, Abbey is going to speak to us on a feed. They want you to be there." 

"Do they know I'm not making the decisions?" 

"Oh, yes, Walken let them know. In fact he doesn't want you to come." 

"Fuck him," Jed ground out. "If they want to talk to me, I'll be there, whether Glen Allen Walken likes it or not. I want to see my wife." 

**** 

Everyone paced quietly in the situation room waiting for the feed. It was different with President Bartlet in the room – quieter, more respectful of his grief. They hadn't seen him in two days. Two days in which he had seemed to age significantly. Gone was the boyish smile and the twinkle of humor in his eyes replaced by lines of fatigue and dark circles under those now pain filled eyes. They waited for what seemed like an eternity, Jed surrounded by Leo, Ron, Fitz and Nancy, and Walken with a few of his own advisors. Finally, the room came to attention as the image of Abbey Bartlet filled the screen. A tall man with a ski mask on held her hair in his fist tipping her neck back. There was a moment of shocked dismay in the room. The First Lady wore only a man's shirt, the top buttons left open to reveal welts on her chest and bruises on her neck. Her jaw was bruised and slightly swollen; her lip cut with blood crusted in the corner. Her wrists were bound with duct tape and lay in her lap. 

Jed stared at the feed his body tensed, his face flushed with rage. 

Glen Walken turned to one of the FBI agents; a doctor brought in to assess Mrs. Bartlet's condition. 

"She's been drugged," the agent said. "You can see it in her pupils." 

Jed didn't have time to dwell on the fact that they'd been drugging his wife for the terrorist began to talk. 

"I want to speak to President Bartlet." 

"You understand that President Bartlet is no longer President," Glen spoke into the speakerphone. 

Jed saw Abbey's head jerk at that statement. So, she didn't know. Didn't know he'd abdicated any way to save her. 

"I said I want to speak with President Bartlet, is he there?" 

"I'm here you rotten little son of bitch." Jed leaned forward glaring at the screen, wishing the fucker could see HIM, see his rage. 

Hassan grinned. It was grotesque to see the grin and not the face. "So, I take it you don't like me playing with your little toy, here." Hassan ran his knife over Abbey's cheek, down her neck, between her breasts. 

The men in the room began to squirm with acute embarrassment and anger that he dared TOUCH their First Lady that way. To her credit, Abbey didn't so much as flinch. She stared straight ahead into the camera as if nothing were being done to her. Nobody in that room wanted to think about what had been done to her to cause such stoicism. 

"Such a beautiful face, Mr. President." Hassan continued to run the knife against Abbey's cheek. "You must love this face. It would be a shame to destroy such a lovely face." 

"Listen to me, you slimy little shit. You touch a hair on my wife's head and I'll PERSONALLY put you ten feet under." 

"She is a feisty little thing, isn't she?" Hassan ran a hand familiarly over Abbey's shoulder and down over her breast in a way that made Jed and every person in that room sick to his stomach. Even Walken had to look down at the floor with discomfort and impotent rage. 

Jed turned to the agent working on the voice text. "That's Khaleel, isn't it?" 

The agent nodded and Jed's fingers curled into white knuckled angry fists. That was the man who had broken Aislinn's arm. The man Abbey had been forced to have sex with. Jed wanted to climb into the feed; he wanted to rip the little fucker apart limb by limb. 

"You know, there is a way out of this mess," Khaleel continued. "Tell him, Ahhbbey. Tell him what it will take to save your life." He pressed the large knife to her throat. 

Abbey stared straight ahead, defiance still glimmering in her weary eyes until she closed them and began whispering the twenty-third psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…" 

"TELL HIM!" Hassan tightened his grip in Abbey's hair and lifted his knife high over head then slashed it down with force. Abbey's scream reverberated off the walls. 

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!" Jed's anguished cry filled the room and he fell to his knees, his head dropping forward to his chest, unable to look at what they'd done to his wife. 

"Next time it will be her HEAD." The malevolent words of Khaleel caused Jed to raise his head. Through eyes swimming with tears, he saw the man holding a fistful of bright auburn hair. Her hair, all he'd done was cut off her hair, not her head. 

"Do what they want, Glen," Jed hissed as he got back to his feet. "For chrissake, DO what they want." 

Abbey still stared straight-ahead tears now falling silently down her cheeks. She had never stopped praying. "Yeah, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…" She was not going to plead with Jed to release the imprisoned terrorists. She was not going to do that to her husband, to her President. She knew he could see her; she just wished that she could see him one more time before she died. Her lip quivered almost imperceptibly but her eyes radiated bravery. "I love you, Jed." 

"I love you, Abigail," Jed's voice was choked with emotion. 

"TELL HIM." Hassan pressed the knife more tightly against her throat drawing a droplet of blood and she stiffened knowing she was about to die. 

"Don't do it, Jed. You can't, not even for me. I'll always love you, remember that." 

"SHUT HER UP!" 

There was chaos in the room and the camera went wildly out of control as if it were falling. Everyone in the situation room stood anxiously but all they could hear were angry Arabic voices and then the finality of a loud BANG as a gun went off. 

Jed's whole body jerked, as if the bullet had hit him. He stared straight ahead in shock. He'd heard that your life flashed before your eyes when you died; but, at that moment, it was Abbey's life that was flashing through his mind. Bright flashing moments that continued until he sank back to his knees with a moan of anguish. 

Glen Walken, President of the United States, could only gape at the blank screen. "My God, the son of a bitch killed her." 


	15. Deliver Us from Evil

"I shouldn't have said those things to them, Leo." An emotionally distraught Jed Bartlet sat on the edge of the couch in Leo's office. It had taken both Leo and Ron to lead the shocked and shaken man from the situation room. "I taunted them. I pissed them off." 

"It wasn't you that set them off. It was Abbey – her defiance, her bravery." 

"Jesus, did you see what they'd DONE to her?" 

Leo nodded, unable to speak through the lump that had formed in his throat. Right away he'd noted the cuts and bruises, the drugged eyes and the sickening fact that she was not wearing the clothes that she'd been wearing when she was kidnapped. He'd wanted desperately to smash his fist into Khaleel's face and if he'd felt that strongly about it he could only imagine how Jed was feeling. 

"He used her, Leo." 

"What?" 

"That's how Zoey escaped. Abbey gave him her body to distract him so the girls could get away. Oh, GOD, I want him DEAD!" 

Horror filled Leo's eyes at his friend's anguished cry. Abbey…my God. He'd known from the moment he saw her wearing only that shirt that something had gone on. He had tried to deny to himself what had obviously been done, but now, KNOWING that it had caused his mind to reel. And yet, the complete and utter anguish in Jed's eyes was enough to keep his own emotions under control. Jed needed him calm and reasonable, not off the wall. Still, he couldn't think of anything to say. Knew there was nothing that he could say that would make a damn bit of difference to Jed right now. He simply reached a hand out to squeeze his forearm. 

"Abbey's tough. She'll get through it." 

"She can't be dead, Leo. She can't be. I'd know it if she died. I'd FEEL it in here." He beat his fist against his heart. "If Abbey had died a part of me would have died, too." 

Leo nodded. He remembered Abbey saying almost the same thing to him when Air Force One had been presumed down, the President dead. Their connection was as spiritual as it was physical and intellectual. 

"You know, I barely remember a time before Abbey was in my life and what I do remember was cold and lonely and so empty. Abbey brought all the warmth and color and sound. Abbey brought the love. I can't even imagine the world without her in it. I can't imagine ME without her." 

"I know." Leo rested his hand on Jed's shoulder. He'd known Jed Bartlet before Abbey had entered his life and he'd known him after. The makings of a great man had been inside of him right from the start and it had just taken hooking up with Abbey for HIM to believe that. Caring and compassionate, Jed had been the kind of kid who would give you the shirt off his back. He'd also been exceptionally smart and good looking, although he'd never seen himself that way. Well, not until he met Abbey. Abbey's unconditional love and belief in him had turned his reserved young friend into a self confident, more gregarious young man. Right from the start, they had fit together so perfectly, Jed and Abbey, Abbey and Jed, two halves of a whole. It was something he had envied, even longed for, but something that he had never known. Jed had known. He had spent pretty much his entire adult life bound to the woman who was his soulmate. To lose her would be a blow that he was not sure even someone as strong willed as Jed Bartlet would be able to absorb. 

**** 

Abbey moaned softly, the pain in her head like a hammer pounding at her skull. As she slowly regained consciousness, she could feel someone stroking her hair…touching her head. Panicked, her eyes flashed open, white-hot pain nearly blinding her as she fought to get away from those hands. 

"Abbey…calm down, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you. It's just me." Toby swallowed tightly at her terror of being touched. 

Abbey knew that voice. "Toby," she moaned painfully. "What happened?" 

"You caused quite a commotion." Toby tried to smile as he continued to stroke her hair back off the horrible bleeding lump on her temple. "After you told the President NOT to cave in, Azim dropped the camera and hit you on the head with his gun to stop what you were saying. The gun went off and the bullet shattered the camera." 

Abbey winced as she touched her forehead and felt the sticky blood, the pain throbbing behind her eyes. "So, I guess I can honestly say now that I've been pistol whipped." 

Toby smiled. Even under such dire circumstances, Abbey Bartlet was still Abbey Bartlet. "I guess you can." 

"How long have I been out?" 

"A couple of hours. He conked you pretty hard." 

Abbey started to nod but the movement caused an explosion in her head. Definitely a concussion, she thought. She sat back against the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, completely unconcerned at how much flesh she was baring. 

Toby was not so unconcerned. He had seen her in a bikini before, so seeing her shapely legs bared should not have been startling, but somehow it was. Somehow, it was even more intimate than the scanty bikinis especially when the shirt rode up over her hip making it evident that the bastards had not even given her her underwear back. It was a testament to all that Abbey had been through that she was not at all embarrassed, merely resigned, as she tried to smooth the fabric down to cover herself. She continued to stare straight out across the room seemingly lost in thought. Finally, chin on knees her voice soft and husky she spoke. 

"Jed isn't ready for this." 

"What?" 

"They're going to kill us before they run and Jed isn't ready for that. He isn't going to be able to handle it. He'll never be the same. Oh, God, Toby, what's going to happen to my kids?" Tears dripped from Abbey's chin onto her bare knees. 

"Don't give up, Abbey." Toby placed an awkward arm over her shaking slender shoulders. "Please, don't give up. You know the President isn't going to rest until he finds you." 

"Jed isn't the President anymore. He stepped down. I know in my heart that he'll do whatever he has to get me out of here. But…his hands are tied." 

"Do you really think that having his hands tied will stop Jed Bartlet? This is a man who…" 

"Oh…what a touching little scene." Azim entered the room, stopped before Abbey and stared down at her. Abbey couldn't help the small swell of satisfaction she got at seeing the dark red gouges down his cheek that her fingernails had made earlier. She might be scarred but they were not getting away without their own scars. 

"You have defied me for the last time, you stubborn little bitch. Nobody makes Azim Shareef look like a fool. NOBODY. You do know, of course, that you'll have to be punished and since you seemed to enjoy the closet so much…" He pulled out the roll of duct tape an evil smile crossing his lips. 

"No," Abbey moaned. She couldn't go back in that airless little box, she'd go crazy. "Please, don't…please." 

"Well, then, I could call in Hassan. There are all sorts of ways he'd like to punish you, if you know what I mean. The man has always had a thing for Western pussy." 

Azim loved the flash of terror that moved across Abbey's eyes. Ah, yes, when the time came, right before they killed her, all three of them were going to have quite a good time on this woman. 

"So, you don't like that idea? I guess it's back to the closet then." 

Abbey tried to struggle as he bound her hands and her feet but she was weak, so weak. She knew that any fight she'd had in her was slowly ebbing away with her strength. She twisted her head from side to side as Azim tried to place a piece of the thick tape over her lips but her sluggish efforts were no match for Azim's strength. 

"You do know that you're going to pay for this," Toby's voice was deadly. He no longer cared what happened to him; he just could not stand for these monsters to get away with what they were doing to Abbey anymore. 

"I don't think you're in any position to make us pay," Azim gave a derisive laugh. 

"I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about Jed Bartlet. Whether you kill us or not, HE is going to make sure that you pay for what you've done to his wife. DON'T underestimate the power of his wrath. The last man to touch a hair on her head is no longer alive. Remember that. He will leave no stone unturned. He will hunt you down like the animal that you are and THEN you will know what it means to be punished." 

Azim gave pause. Normally, he would have brushed the words aside, but the emotionless conviction of Toby Ziegler had sent a tingle of fear down his spine. They had underestimated Jed Bartlet before and his brother had been killed because of it and now they were trapped. They hadn't planned on anyone escaping and knew that it was only a matter of time before Zoey Bartlet led the FBI to their doorstep. They had kidnapped Abigail Bartlet and her daughters because of how much they meant to Jed Bartlet and now a little needle of panic pricked at him for he was afraid that their plan was going to backfire. That now THEY were going to pay the price because she meant much more to him than any of them could have known. This was not supposed to be a suicide mission and yet that was exactly how it was turning out. They would not run and hide in the woods like cowards; they would stand and fight the infidels even if it surely meant death. 

As he sent the needle into Abbey's skin, his one flicker of satisfaction came from the surety that while he and the others would be rejoicing with Allah, when Jed Bartlet recovered the body of his wife, he would be plunged into the depths of hell. 

**** 

Leo left the situation room still reeling with shock. If he hadn't been standing in that room, he never would have believed that a man could be as callous as Glen Allen Walken was being with Abigail Bartlet's life. As he made his way towards the bathroom to try to clear his mind, Jed's earlier words to him pounded unceasingly into his conscience. "You're their only hope in that room. Please help them." But, could he? Could he disregard everything and help her? 

Glen saw Abbey as a pawn, a weapon being used against him. Even after witnessing that horrifying feed, he saw it more as a terrorist act against America rather than as the torture and violation of a person. Even after all of that, he still didn't see her as a person. But, Leo did. For the first time in his life, Leo could not differentiate between his personal life and his job. He'd always chided Jed on his inability to shut off what made him the man that he was for what was politically expedient. He'd always been the one to be able to shelve his humanity and stay in the moment, cloaking himself in his mantle of Chief of Staff. But, that was no longer possible. It had not been possible from the moment he had seen Abbey on that feed, bruised, battered and half-naked, her eyes shining with courage. God, what a magnificent woman she truly was. He wasn't sure he'd ever witnessed so courageous and selfless an act as Abigail Bartlet refusing to beg her husband for her life. She did not deserve her rescue plan being ignored simply because one man believed that she was already dead. 

As he splashed water on his face and sank back against the wall contemplating what to do, he couldn't help but think about Abbey, as he had known her over the years. 

Abbey – the gorgeous, confident, brainy babe that stepped off the bus in Boston with Jed. Abbey – young and so damn beautiful in her romantic white wedding gown, her face radiant with joy as she took Jed's hand before the priest. Abbey – lumbering around in one of Jed's dress shirts in their tiny flat in London her small frame so heavy with his child. Abbey – sitting at the dining room table in her and Jed's shabby Cambridge duplex feeding her daughter while Jed quizzed her from her anatomy textbook. Abbey – carrying newborn Ellie in a front pack against her chest while she led Elizabeth and her new pony around the paddock on the farm in Candia that they had inherited from Jed's grandparents. Abbey – her cheeks rosy and her eyes laughing as she taught toddler Zoey how to skate on the pond at the farm. Abbey – arriving like some sort of sexy mistress at she and Jed's Washington apartment while he was in Congress for weekends that left Jed smiling all week. Abbey – her green eyes flashing with fury the night that he'd made his drunken pass at her. Abbey – so serious and empathetic when she'd come to him and Jenny to tell them that she had not been able to convince eighteen year old Mallory not to marry that loser Tommy O'Brien and that if they wanted to keep her in their lives, they were going to have to accept him and be there for her when things inevitably broke down. Abbey – the night that Jed had been shot, frantic and terrified and as close to completely breaking down as he'd ever seen her. Abbey – dealing with his recovery and the effects that morning sickness and her ripening pregnancy were having on her. Abbey – the night that she'd gone into labor at Jed's State of the Union, her breath catching with each stabbing pain but stubbornly refusing to leave until his speech was over. Abbey – the morning he'd had to awaken Jed at the beach, nude and so lovingly entwined in his arms after an evening of what looked like some late night lovemaking. Abbey – in the bunker after the terrorist attacks on America when Air Force One was believed to be down, so strong with the absolute belief that Jed was not dead and that there had to be another explanation. 

How could he ignore all that she had meant to him? All she meant to his best friend? She was not simply a pawn; she was a friend, a daughter, a sister and most importantly a wife and a mother. 

Leo's dilemma was as personal as it was constitutional. He was warring between his duty to his friends and his duty to his President, but more than that he was warring with doing what was right and doing what was wrong even if it meant causing the biggest mess this country had seen. "Leo will know what to do." The trust had been placed in him. Leo just hoped it had been deserved. 


	16. Deliver Us from Evil

Jed stood before the TV in Margaret's office. The networks had gotten wind of the shooting and some were even reporting that sources inside the White House were saying the First Lady had been shot and might even be dead. Jed stood transfixed by Sarah McLachlan's sadly haunting _I Will Remember You_ and by the images of his wife on the screen. The world was being given a glimpse into Abbey Bartlet's life but none of them knew just what each picture, every video clip meant to her husband. 

There was Abbey as a freckle faced little girl in pigtails sitting on her father's lap playing _Scrabble_ and as an impishly smiling teenager in a plaid Catholic school uniform posing with her class in front of the Sacred Heart. 

But nobody but he knew just how much she'd despised her freckles, only coming to accept them when he taught her a new game of connect the dots with his tongue. And, nobody but he knew that she'd gotten her knuckles viciously rapped when Sister Mary Agnes caught her reading _Lady Chatterly's Lover_ when she was supposed to be reading _Lives of the Saints_. 

There was Abbey as a serious faced freshman at Notre Dame filled with the great ambition of becoming a doctor. And, a couple years later, a more hippie looking Abbey at a war protest wearing faded hip huggers, a tight white T-shirt with a peace symbol on it, sunglasses with blue lenses and long red hair that fell all the way to her waist. 

But, nobody but he knew that it was that Abbey that he had met and fallen in love with. The combination of her impish smile, serious ambition, and the convictions that she shared with him to make the world a better place had seriously done him in right on the spot. Nobody but he knew that he'd had the great fortune of falling in love with a young woman who was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. 

There was Abbey looking so breathtaking lovely in her wedding gown as she stood before him as his bride. And, there she was crying when he slid her gold wedding ring on her slender finger, laughing as he fed her a piece of cake, and kissing him while he danced with her. There was a heartbreakingly young Abbey – pregnant and glowing with maternal pride in the growing swell of her belly and later rocking infants and playing with young toddlers. There was Abbey's face lit with joy as she sat next to the Christmas tree watching her children open their Christmas gifts in the winter and chasing waves at the beach in the summer. 

But, nobody but he knew how his wife liked to come home from Midnight Mass and cuddle and neck under the lights of the Christmas tree before going up to bed and preparing for the early onslaught of their children. And, nobody but he knew how his wife liked to sunbathe topless in private and make love out of doors near the ocean enjoying the romance of the pounding surf and the scent of salt on the air. 

There was Abbey standing at soccer games, still in her scrubs since she'd rushed from the hospital to make it in time to one of their girl's games and Abbey, so elegant and beautiful at the Swedish palace, standing by his side while he'd reached the pinnacle of his vocational success and been awarded the Nobel Prize. There was Abbey sunbathing in a bikini on the deck of the _Abigail Anne_ and playing volleyball on the beach. There was Abbey – tired and dirty her hair falling out of her haphazard ponytail while she worked on a young earthquake victim during the time she'd volunteered with the Red Cross one summer in Guatemala. 

But, nobody but he knew what that had taken out of her. How devastating it had been for her to experience the horrors of triage for the first time and to know that there had been people she might have been able to save but who had to be overlooked while she worked on the less critical. Nobody but he knew how she'd cried in his arms night after night. 

There was Abbey standing at the top of Mount Washington, a backpack on her back, the wind whipping her hair and waterproof jacket and a bright smile on her face, and Abbey snowshoeing in the woods with their daughters pointing out deer tracks. There was Abbey – elegant and sophisticated dancing with him at the Governor's Balls and standing with her arm around his waist on a ski slope at Waterville Valley. 

But, nobody but he knew about the time that she'd twisted her ankle and they'd sent the girls out on the slopes with a ski instructor then spent the day making love in front of the fireplace. Nobody but he knew that she was faking it and simply wanted a day alone in her husband's arms. 

There was Abbey emceeing hospital auctions while the girls helped man the phones and Abbey on the presidential campaign trail with her short pencil slim skirts and high heels. There was Abbey holding the Bible and dancing with him the night of his Inauguration and Abbey posing with him in front of the Taj Mahal. 

But, nobody but he knew it was that night that Aislinn and Nicholas had been conceived. Most everyone had figured out that India had been when conception had occurred, but nobody except he and Abbey knew the exact moment that they had created a baby, two babies. 

There was a frantic, terrified Abbey making her way into G.W. the night that he'd been shot, and Abbey leaving that same hospital with a baby in her arms only five months later. There were Annie Leibowitz's intimate mother/newborn photos; Abbey nose to nose with Nicholas, and beautiful footage in church of Aislinn in her long white satin baptismal gown being held in the arms of her elegant mother at her christening. 

But, nobody but he knew what Abbey had gone through the night of the birth. Nobody but he knew the strength that she possessed to get through the agony while refusing the offers of Demerol and epidurals and instead toughing it out through blood, sweat and tears to give him two of the greatest gifts of his life. Nobody but he had seen the utter softness of love shining in her in her teary eyes as she'd counted their newborn babies fingers and toes and nobody but he knew just how close he'd come to losing her when she'd hemorrhaged after Nicky's breech birth. 

There was Abbey riding her horse by the Chesapeake at their new getaway home by the bay and tantalizing him by rubbing her rear against him when they played mini-golf in Maine over the summer. 

But, nobody but he knew that he had just offered her his Presidency or that she had lovingly given it back to him, vowing to do everything she could to get him elected if that was what he wanted. 

There was Abbey sitting by his side while they told the world of his M.S., and him sitting by hers when she told the world of what Marcus Hughes had done to her when he broke into their home. There was Abbey getting chocolate icing smashed into her face by Nicholas at the twins' first birthday and getting a huge standing ovation when she spoke at the Democratic convention. 

But, nobody but he knew that she had just found a lump in her breast and was dealing with the fact that she might have breast cancer. Nobody but he knew just how good she was at putting on a brave face for the world and nobody else knew how they'd cried together with relief in the shower when she had been informed that the lump was not cancer. 

There was sexy Abbey dancing with him in New Orleans and posing for those erotic pictures she had given him as a gift and that had ended up on the Internet, and mother Abbey helping the twins feed animals at the petting zoo. There were state dinners and more inaugurations; on and on it went until it almost became a blur to him and the only thing he could still focus on were the words from the song. 

> _"Where once there was a darkness_  
>  A deep and endless night.   
> You gave me everything you had   
> Oh, you gave me light."

"You're not dead, Abbey…" Jed whispered to her image on the TV. "I know you're not dead." 

"Sir…" Margaret didn't know how to deal with this Jed Bartlet. She was used to blustery Jed, teasing Jed, but she had never known broken Jed. 

"Yes, Margaret." Jed turned his reddened eyes her way. 

"There are some people here to see you." 

Jed looked up to see Ron, Nancy and Fitz enter the room along with Leo. 

"We think we know where Mrs. Bartlet is being held captive." It was Ron who first approached the President. 

"Where is she?" Jed's voice was barely more than a whisper. 

"Well, your daughter gave us very detailed directions of the way she came to be on Route 76. We've run some reconnaissance over the area where we figure she started on the creek and we found an abandoned trailer. Zoey said they were kept in a trailer." 

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?!" Jed exploded. "Get her the hell out of there." 

"It's not that simple." Fitz stepped forward. "President Walken won't give us permission to go through with the given plan. He wants to go through with the plan to bomb Qumar in revenge for what they've done to your wife. He believes that Mrs. Bartlet is dead." 

"REVENGE isn't going to help Abbey! Revenge comes AFTER. We have to get her out of there. Abbey is NOT dead. Deep in my heart I know that she is still alive, but if we don't get her out of there soon it may be too late." 

"We agree with you, sir." Nancy added. "We tried to convince him to halt the bombing plans and go with the rescue effort that Ron laid out." 

"What's his fucking problem?" 

"He's afraid of the political ramifications," Leo sneered. "He's afraid that if Abbey isn't dead and we go in there like gangbusters and she gets killed the world will blame him for her death." 

"Jesus, he's thinking about RE-ELECTION at a time like this? Son of a BITCH. What was I thinking of stepping down? My wife is going to DIE because that bastard wants to cover his ASS. Dammit, I'll go there myself and get her out of there." Jed turned as if to leave the room. 

"Sir, you can't do that." Ron grabbed his arm. 

"WATCH ME!" Jed angrily shrugged him off. "I'm not just going to sit here while my wife is being raped and tortured and KILLED." 

"There is another way," Leo's was the voice of reason. "Ron has a plan. The FBI is already on their way to the trailer location." 

"I gave the men an option. The men going to Willow Creek know they are doing so against the President's orders. They also know that the orders they may be following will be yours." 

"Mine? You want me to give the order to rescue my wife, against the orders of the President. I'm not a lawyer but isn't that treason or something?" 

"I'm sure it's illegal," Ron deadpanned. 

"I don't know," Jed hesitated. "I have no problem doing this myself but I don't know if I can ask all of you to go down with me." 

"You haven't, sir. We're asking YOU." Fitz stood shoulder to shoulder with Ron. 

"We're ready to accept the consequences, sir," Nancy added as she moved up next to Fitz. "What President Walken is doing is wrong. YOU are our true leader, sir." 

"You're okay with this?" Jed turned to Leo. 

"We're all behind you." Leo moved up next to the others. "I've been in those meetings, Jed. That man is more interested in revenge; more afraid of the political fallout than he is of getting Abbey back. He doesn't even really believe that she is alive so he doesn't understand how important time is. Remember when you stepped down you told me that I'd know what to do. I can't condone what he is doing. Abbey's life depends on what we do here and now. You give the order, sir and we're all behind you." 

"I couldn't ask for a more noble group to have my back." Jed stood visibly moved and humbled by their belief in him as their true leader. 

"It's a dangerous plan, sir. I can't guarantee that we are going to get Mrs. Bartlet and Mr. Ziegler out of this alive." 

"But if we don't try they're dead anyway, aren't they?" 

"I'm afraid so." 

"Okay, then. You have my orders and Glen Allen Walken can go fuck himself." 

**** 

Terror. It nipped and pinched and sent shafts deep into Abbey's heart. She was curled in the fetal position on the floor of the pitch-black closet, claustrophobia closing in all around her making it an effort just to continue breathing. Panic ate at her, clawed at her and was barely kept at bay. Her arms were pulled behind her back tightly, her wrists taped together. Her shoulders throbbed with the pain to the point that she was afraid she might lose consciousness. Sweat ran in rivulets down her face and her breasts, stinging her eyes and her burns and causing her shirt to stick to her skin. She almost wished the drugs they had given her would kick in so she could just fade away into oblivion. 

She thought about that feed and hearing her husband's voice and wished she could have asked Jed if Zoey and Aislinn had made it. It terrified her to think of her daughters lost out in the woods. There were bears in the woods; they could die before they were found. "Oh God," she prayed. "Please let them be all right. Please let them make it." 

She tried not to think about herself, tried not to think about what was going to happen to her. She was so afraid, so damn afraid. A part of her knew that she was never going to make it out of this trailer. She was never going to feel raindrops on her face again or let snow melt on her tongue. She was never going to hold her children in her arms again, never see her two youngest grow up. She was never going to nuzzle into her husband's neck again or feel his strong arms around her while she inhaled the special scent of his bay rum and the warmth of his skin. She was never going to feel the pressure of his lips on hers again, never taste the delight of his tongue. She was never going feel the exquisite sensation of his mouth suckling and teasing her nipples or his hot hard length surging between her thighs. 'Oh God, Jed.' How could she bear the idea of never gazing into those beautiful baby blues again? 'Please…please, baby…Find me…Oh God, Jed, don't let me die here.' 

**** 

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Glen Walken approached Jed just as he was leaving Leo's office. 

Jed simply stared the bigger man down his eyes steely with determination. 

"I know about your orders. I know you've gone behind my back to order the rescue attempt on your wife." 

"I didn't butt in, Glen. They went to you first and you refused to try to save her." 

"I'm not going to let you do this. I'M the President NOT YOU." Glen's finger jammed into Jed's chest. 

"Get your fucking hands off of me." Jed yanked Walken's hand away from his chest. "I'M not going to let you put my wife's life at risk because you have some misguided macho need for revenge." 

"You mean to tell me that you don't want revenge on the people who have done this to your family?" 

"Revenge? Glen, I want to break their FUCKING necks myself. BUT, more importantly, I want my wife back. Revenge can come later." 

"You do know she's probably dead. That gunshot." 

"I've learned not to deal in probabilities especially not when it comes to my family." 

"Look, this is a dangerous plan. I want to get Ms. Bartlet back, too, but lets give it another day. Make sure that we have a good plan in place and…" 

"SHE DOESN'T HAVE ANOTHER DAY!" Jed exploded. "My GOD, Glen, you saw her! They're drugging her. They're torturing her and they're RAPING her. Do you mean to tell me that if it was Sue-Ann you'd let it go another day?" 

"I understand why y'all are upset, but I wouldn't put my emotions before my job." 

"Then Sue-Ann is damn lucky that it was Abbey that was kidnapped and not her. I can't put my emotions aside and I won't." 

"Well, I can't let this plan continue on. As of this moment it's off." 

"Glen, don't DO this. Don't make this a power struggle between you and me. Look, this is a win/win situation for you. If the FBI gets Abbey out and she's okay then you can take all the credit for it. The country will love you. If things don't go as planned and she is…killed…Then you can blame it all on me. You didn't know a thing about the plan. I went behind your back." 

"You could go to jail." 

"I think it's worth the risk. I've got to get her out of there, Glen. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything in my power to get her back. She's everything to me. Let the plan go forward." 

"You have two young children." 

"Whom I'd have to face one day and explain why I didn't do everything that I could to save their mother. I'd rather talk to them through prison bars and have them know that I did everything in my power to save her than try to explain why I didn't." 

"You accept full responsibility if something goes wrong?" 

"If something goes wrong, I'm not going to give a damn what happens to me." 

"Then you do what you have to do. I won't interfere." 

**** 

Abbey sat slumped forward weakly the drugs were starting to kick in. She was so tired, so tired and sore. It was so hard to breathe and the lack of oxygen was causing her to become lightheaded. Sweat and blood plastered her hair to her head and stung her cuts and the burns on her breasts. Horrible cramps gripped the muscles of her legs until she wanted to scream with the agony of it. She was so tired of fighting, so tired of hurting. It would be so easy just to give up. But, every time she would start to give up and start to allow herself to fade off to sleep, she would see Jed's eyes, those beautiful baby blues burning into her very soul. She would hear his voice urging her to stay alive, his voice telling her that he loved her and she grit her teeth and steeled herself against the pain, forced herself to stay alive and conscious for the moment that she would be in her husband's arms again. She hummed softly against the duct tape the words of different hymns going through her mind as she fought to comfort herself and keep herself from going crazy with the claustrophobia. 

> _"If you pass through raging waters in the sea, you shall not drown._  
>  If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed.   
> If you stand before the power of hell and death is at your side,   
> know that I am with you through it all.   
> Be not afraid.   
> I go before you always.   
> Come follow me,   
> And I will give you rest." 

**** 

The trailer was surrounded by FBI agents and had been for hours now. They were just awaiting their orders to push forth and take it. Windows in the back were boarded up, probably where the First Lady and Toby Ziegler were being held. Snipers had been able to get glimpses of three men and a woman, just as Zoey Bartlet had reported. So far they had not been alerted to the FBI presence and they wanted to make sure that it stayed that way until President Bartlet gave the order to take the trailer. 

Jed Bartlet sat in Marine Two with Leo and Ron. 

"I wish you'd reconsider and let me go in after the agents," Jed was grumbling to Ron. 

"You aren't going in there until we've made sure that it's secure." 

"Are you going in?" Jed asked. 

"I'll be there." 

"You be the one, Ron." 

"What?" 

"You be the one to find her. If I can't be there, I want you to be the one take her out of there." 

Jed knew he could count on Ron to handle Abbey with care and consideration whether she was alive…or…or not. 

"I'll take her out," Ron promised. He spoke quietly into his wrist for a moment. "Sir," he turned to Jed. "They've spotted the targets." 

"Abbey?" 

"Scarlet is not in the room with them. This is as safe as it's going to get." 

Jed took a deep breath. Please, God. Please don't let this be the wrong thing to do. "Okay. Move in." 


	17. Deliver Us from Evil

Abbey tried to concentrate on her breathing, tried to conserve what little air that was left in the closet by taking in small short breaths. She was going to die in there, she was almost sure of it. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore, her legs were one giant cramp and her head swam from the lack of oxygen and the drugs they had given her. She knew she'd been fading in and out of consciousness and she was terrified that one of these times she was going to fade out and never come back. 

Jed…tears swam behind her eyes as she thought of her husband. There was so much she wanted to tell him; so much she had left to say. She couldn't bear the idea of never seeing him again…Jed…Jed… 

Loud bursts of gunfire suddenly filled the silence. At first Abbey thought she was hallucinating, but then she heard the panicked shouts of Arabic and heard the bullets hit the outside of the trailer. It was definitely gunfire. Jed had found her. Oh, God, please don't let me die now, please let them find me before I die. It was Abbey's last thought before fading into blackness. 

**** 

Unwilling to back down to the men they considered immoral and inferior, Azim and Habib stood their ground returning the gunfire of the FBI with their own firepower. Hassan had no such compunction. For all his talk of courage and superiority, he was, at heart, a weak man – a weak man without convictions. He had come on this mission for the pleasure of playing cat and mouse with a victim; he had not come for any noble cause and he had certainly not come to die. He watched Azim scream and fall back from the window, watched the crimson stain spread across his chest and the blood bubble from his lips. He watched a bullet hit Habib in the head blowing out the back of his skull and he panicked. He turned to run out the back door, had just made it around the corner of the trailer when the agent spotted him. 

"Stop right there." 

Hassan turned around. Ron Butterfield knew that face. The man standing before him was Hassan Al Khaleel, the man who broken little Aislinn Bartlet's arm. The man who had most probably raped Abbey Bartlet and might have killed her. 

"Running away, you fucking coward? You didn't even stand up and fight like a man. Abigail Bartlet has more courage in her PINKIE than you have in your entire body." 

"I am no coward." Hassan was furious at the suggestion and the negative comparison to a WOMAN. Enraged, his fingers edged closer to the gun he carried in his holster. 

"Do it," Ron urged him. "Go for your gun. Please. It would give me great pleasure to rid the world of your existence." 

Thinking he could outdraw a Secret Service agent was Hassan Al Khaleel's last mistake. Before his fingers had even touched his holster, Ron Butterfield sent a bullet straight into his groin. Hassan screamed in agony and hunched over. 

"That was for Abbey Bartlet," Ron's voice was icy with hatred as he sent a second bullet into the man's chest. The first bullet had been for Abbey, probably something he would be cited for since agents were always taught to shoot to kill; the second bullet was meant to send him to hell. 

With all three terrorists down, the FBI and paramedics moved in. Red and blue lights suddenly transformed the area around the trailer and hovering helicopters added to the noise. Ron ignored it all. He had only one thing on his mind, finding Abigail Bartlet and getting her out of there whether she was alive or dead. 

He tried to prepare himself for what he was going to find as he entered the trailer. He was a seasoned professional agent, but he was also a man. A man who knew Abbey as not just the First Lady but as a loving mother, a flirty wife, and a truly courageous woman. Flanked by FBI agents with drawn guns, he opened the door to the bedroom and immediately his stomach clenched. He saw torn duct tape on the bedposts and smears of blood on the bedcovers. God, what had those animals done to her? 

Not finding her in the bedroom, they moved to the back room kicking in the locked door. Before Toby Ziegler could say a word, Ron flung open the door to the closet, his eyes widening with disbelief. 

"Oh, my God. I found her." 

**** 

Back at the edge of the woods, Jed stood in Marine Two listening to the sound of gunfire, his heart in his throat. Unable to bear the tension he started to pace, which was not an easy thing to do in the confined space of a helicopter. 

Leo watched him – three steps one way, three steps the other. He was like a caged animal just itching for the moment of his escape. Jed's escape finally came when the loud bursts of gunfire had completely stopped. He paused in his pacing then, his eyes catching Leo's. Leo could read the fear their depths. A fear that was so strong, so palpable he could damn near reach out and touch it. Together, surrounded by Secret Service, FBI and U.S. Marshals, they waited with held breath until Ron finally radioed in. 

"Sir," one of the agents turned to Jed. "The trailer is secure. Operation Saving Scarlet is over." 

"What does that mean? Is Abbey alive?" 

"She's alive but in need of medical attention. A medical helicopter is landing now to bring her to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital with your daughters." 

"Well, let's go. I'm going on that helicopter with her." Jed bounded down the stairs of Marine Two and raced across the field where just a night ago his two daughters had made their escape. The field was now dotted with local law enforcement, fire trucks and ambulances, their blue and red flashing lights warring with the flashing spotlights of the helicopters that hovered overhead. 

"What about the terrorists?" Jed asked as they sped across the field. 

"All killed, sir," the Secret Service agent told him. 

Jed felt immense relief that the men who had hurt his family were now dead, but a part of him wished that he had been the one to do it, especially to Khaleel. He wished he had been there to watch that one die. As they walked past a stretcher being loaded onto an ambulance, Jed glanced down at the dead body. It was Azim Shareef, he recognized him from the pictures he'd been seeing of him on the news over and over for the past few days, only now Azim had three long bloodied gouge marks down the side of his face. Jed knew exactly how he had gotten them. 

"You fought hard, didn't you baby," he said to himself. As he rounded the corner of the trailer, he saw a couple of agents bent over a body that the paramedics were trying to get onto a stretcher. Jed heard the soft moan and assumed it was a downed agent. He made his way past the few agents that surrounded the body and was surprised to be face to face with Hassan Al Khaleel; and he was not dead. Jed noted right away the big bloodstain on the front of Khaleel's pants. Someone had shot him right in the balls. Jed wished that someone had been him. Hassan's eyes opened and he recognized the President of the United States. 

"B…Bartlet." 

Jed glared at the man for a moment then turned to go find where they had his wife. 

"Your…w…wife…she is…a strong one." 

"Don't you fucking talk about my WIFE," Jed seethed. 

"But…" Hassan licked his lips and continued on, his eyes taking on a malicious glint. "Not strong enough…Do you want…to know…how cheaply…she sold…her body…to me." 

Rage slammed through Jed's body with red-hot fury. Unable to think about anything but what this animal had done to Abbey, picturing it all in his mind, he reached out unthinkingly and to the surprise and horror of the rookie agent at his side, he pulled the gun away from him and trained it on the terrorist laying before him. 

"You sadistic, son of a bitch." Jed's hands were shaking with fury as he held the gun on the man. He'd never held a gun before in his life – was not a hunter or a marksman – but right now he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet through this bastard's black heart. 

"Mr. President, put down the gun," Ron's voice as he stepped out of the trailer was calm, full of reason. 

"No! Don't touch me, Ron," Jed's voice was not so calm, but it was firm. "You SAW what he did to my little girl. You SAW what he did to my WIFE. Somebody else had the pleasure of blowing his cock off. I want to blow his fucking head off." 

"Sir…He's already dead." 

In his blind fury, Jed had not noticed the moment Hassan Al Khaleel had bled to death. Shaken by the depth of his anger and disappointed he had not been able to avenge what had been done to his wife, he handed the gun to Ron and stepped toward Hassan's body spitting in his face. 

"Burn in hell," he ground out icily. 

"Mrs. Bartlet…Mrs. Bartlet…Can you hear me?" 

At the sound of his wife's moan, Jed's attention immediately snapped from the dead terrorist at his feet to the stretcher the paramedics were wheeling out of the trailer. 

"No... No…No more…please," Abbey's protests were weak as she tried to fight the hands that were running over her legs and her arms. Somehow in her drugged state, she knew she didn't have much in the way of clothing on. 

"It's okay, Mrs. Bartlet…we're paramedics. We aren't going to hurt you. We're trying to help you." 

"Abbey," her name was choked out as Jed stood by the stretcher looking down on her. He took in the blood that was caked in her hairline and smeared on her face and her shirt, her swollen split lip and bruised jaw, and the jagged remnants of her once luxurious hair. 

Through her panic and confusion, Abbey turned to the voice that she knew so well, the voice she'd been hearing in her head for the past two days. It was then that her eyes fell on the familiar face of her husband, his jaw scruffy with at least a day's growth of beard, his hair windblown and sticking up. He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen and her eyes immediately began to swim with tears. 

"Jed!" His name fell from her lips with such pain and such relief even the most hardened agent was moved. "Oh, God, Jed!" 

In an instant, he had her in his arms and she was sobbing burrowing her face into his chest and clutching on to him as if he were her lifeline – the only one who could make her safe. 

"Sssh…Ssh, it's okay, baby. It's okay..." 

"Jed…Jed…They…they…" Abbey choked on her words sobbing too hard to continue. 

"Abbey, it's okay, baby. You're safe now. It's all over. I've got you. No one's going to hurt you again...It's okay…Ssh…I've got you now." Jed brushed his stubbled cheek repeatedly against the top of her head his hand moving in soothing circles on her back. 

"Jed…The girls…Did they make it…" 

"Zoey and Aislinn are fine. You're going to be so proud of them when you hear the story of how they made it through the woods. You did it, baby…you saved them." 

"Jed, I…I…" 

"No, don't." Jed knew she was about to tell him what she had done to insure their escape. "It's okay. You don't have to talk about it now. It's all over…it's all over." 

As one of the paramedics started to step forward, Leo grasped him by the arm, tears burning in his own eyes at the tender reunion. "Is she in any immediate danger?" he asked. 

"Not that we can see," the paramedic told him. 

"Then give them a few minutes." 

When Abbey's sobs had calmed a bit to just a few hiccuped shudders, she pulled back from Jed's chest to look up at him. She was surprised to see the tears that were running down his cheeks. He was crying. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd seen her husband cry in public. 

"Jed?" 

"I love you, Abbey. God, I was so afraid I was never going to be able to tell you that again. I love you so damn much." 

"You don't need to curse," Abbey lay weakly back against the stretcher, her energy sapped. 

Jed smiled through his tears. That was his Abbey. He reached down to take her hand as, despite the heat, her body began to shiver uncontrollably. Abbey cried out in pain and Jed yanked his hand back. When he gazed down to see what had caused her cry he saw her crooked black and yellow pinkie finger and her wrists that were rubbed raw and bleeding from fighting against the duct tape. 

"Christ," he swore. 

"I wouldn't…sign a letter to you. Think I can swing a Purple Heart out of this?" 

"I might have a little pull with the military," he grinned running a hand over his face to rid it of tears. "You sure do deserve one. Looks like you fought pretty damn hard to me." He continued to stroke the jagged edges of the hair Hassan had hacked off then turned to one of the paramedics. 

"Why is she shaking like this?" he asked. 

"She's in shock from the trauma. We really should be on our way." 

Jed nodded. 

Abbey panicked as she felt the stretcher start to move. "Jed!" 

"I'm here." Jed took her good hand in his and began to walk beside the stretcher. 

"Don't let them take me." 

"They're just taking you to the hospital and I'm right here with you. I'm not going anywhere." 

Still feeling the effects of the drugs she had been given as well being in shock, Abbey faded in and out of consciousness on the way the way to the hospital, but Jed continued to hold her hand. Even after they got her off the helicopter and wheeled her into the E.R., Jed continued to hold her hand racing alongside her stretcher with the medics and the doctors that had come out to meet the First Lady's stretcher. 

"Mrs. Bartlet? Ma'am…Can you hear me?" 

Abbey's eyes opened weakly focusing on the man who hovered over her. In her muddled brain, she panicked for a moment, but someone else had seen the panic. 

"It's okay, Abbey. He's a doctor." 

It was Jed's voice. Jed was still with her. Relieved, Abbey visibly relaxed and looked up at the doctor. 

"I'm Dr. Hamilton, I'm going to be examining you." 

"O..Okay…" Abbey's voice was barely above a whisper. 

Once in the trauma room, Jed was gently but firmly shoved aside. He might be the President, or former President, but their main objective was their patient. Jed stood back watching as a nurse began cutting the blood-stained shirt away from Abbey's body. Abbey moaned and thrashed against the violation. 

"Ma'am…ma'am… don't fight. We're just trying to help you. We aren't going to hurt you. " 

The shirt was peeled away from her body and Jed fell back weakly against the wall. Naked, his wife's body was covered with angry purple and yellow bruises and small reddish/black welts dotted the pale skin of her breasts. What had those sadistic monsters done to her to cause that kind of damage? He felt his fingers balling into fists and his breath catching in his throat. But, that wasn't the worst of it. Before the nurses threw a sheet over her nude form, Jed had seen the livid red marks on her inner thighs, marks that were shaped exactly as if fingers had dug into her there and he could only surmise that it had been to keep her legs parted. All the blood drained from his head leaving him lightheaded and woozy and he was having trouble inhaling. 

"Sir." He felt a hand on his arm. "Why don't you sit down for a moment?" The nurse led him over to a stool and sat him down. 

It came back to him then, all the memories flooding him with a fresh, breath stealing pain. He was back in that townhouse in Boston hearing his wife screaming for help, seeing the man raping her, seeing her tear stained, pain ravaged face. 

"I think I'm going to be sick." 

The nurse made it back with a basin just in time for the President to throw up. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized when it was over. 

"It's okay, sir. It happens. You all right now?" 

"Yeah," he nodded. "May I speak to the doctor?" 

"Of course." 

Dr. Hamilton was merely observing while IVs were being placed in Abbey's arms so he had no problem speaking with the President. 

"Sir?" 

"I'm sure that you are a very good doctor," Jed began. "I'm sure that you are very good at what you do, but I was hoping…well…My wife…She's scared…I would really appreciate it if you would get a female doctor to do the more…you know…intimate exam." 

Dr. Hamilton did not take offense at the President's request. He'd seen the First Lady's wounds, knew what she had probably gone through and it was only natural in this situation that he would request a woman to do her pelvic exam. Besides one did not argue with or question the President of the United States or whatever his title was right now. 

"I'll find my colleague Dr. White and have her perform the pelvic." 

"Thank you." 

"Now, sir. Why don't you go to the waiting room and let us finish up in here." 

"I don't want to leave her." 

"Sir, sometimes in these situations it's for the best. She may be more open with us about her injuries if you're not here." 

Jed paused for a long moment watching as blood was being drawn from Abbey's arm. He knew what the doctor was saying was true. It would be easier for Abbey to talk to a stranger than it would be for her husband to hear what she might have to say. That would have to come later. Finally, he nodded. "Okay but come and get me as soon as you're finished. I don't want her being alone." 

Jed left the ER and was making his way to the waiting room when he saw Toby being led in with a blanket over his shoulders. 

"Toby. You're all right?" He placed hands on both the man's shoulders. 

Toby nodded tears of guilt burning in his eyes. He didn't know what to say to this man who stood before him. "I'm so sorry, sir." 

"Sorry for what?" 

"I couldn't do anything to save her. I watched that animal grope at her. I heard them hurting her and there wasn't a damn thing I could do. I let you down and I'm so sorry." 

Jed felt his stomach pitch dangerously again at the implication of Toby's words, at more concrete evidence of what his wife had been through. "Toby, they were terrorists. There wasn't anything you could have done to help her or the girls. If I'd been there, I couldn't have helped them either." Jed wasn't entirely sure he believed that but that was only because he was sure he could have gotten the terrorists to concentrate on him and leave his wife alone. 

"I wish I could have done more. She was so brave and so strong. She was like a tigress in there defending her children and defying the men's orders. She's an absolutely amazing woman." 

"Yes, she is." 

"But, she paid a price for that. She paid an awful price." 

"I know," Jed choked, unable to look the other man in the eye. "You couldn't have stopped them, Toby. I know you. If there had been any way possible, you wouldn't have let them hurt my wife and daughters. I know that." 

Toby was looking at the ground still wracked with guilt. 

"Toby," Jed squeezed his arm. "I KNOW that." 

"Sir." A nurse took Toby's arm. "We really need to get you to an examination room." 

Toby nodded and began to follow. 

"Toby," Jed called out to him. Toby stopped and turned back around. "In case you were wondering, Andy's on her way." 

Toby gave him a sad half smile. He knew his reunion with his ex-wife would not be anything like the emotional, moving reuniting that the President had shared with his wife. But, at least she was coming. 

Jed wandered toward the waiting room, his agents trailing a discreet distance behind. He was surprised to find almost the whole family already there. Milling about were Abbey's parents and siblings, his mother and brother, Millie, Ellie and Elizabeth. He figured Doug must have stayed behind with the Gus and Nicholas. They all looked at him expectantly as he entered the room, but it was Beth who finally made the move to approach him. 

"Jed?" She reached out a hand to touch his cheek. 

"They hurt her, Mom," Jed buried his face in his mother-in-law's hair. "Oh, God, they hurt her." 


	18. Deliver Us from Evil

"Sir, I'm Evelyn White. I've just been examining your wife." 

Jed stood and shook her hand. "How is she?" 

"Physically, she was a very lucky lady. There is nothing critically wrong with her. She has a concussion from being hit on the forehead with a gun. The wound did require a few stitches and since it was on her face we brought in Dr. Connelly one of our best plastic surgeons to do the sutures. There won't be a scar. Her pinkie finger was broken. There isn't much we can do for a broken finger other than reset it and put a brace on it. She had quite a few superficial bruises and cigarette burns on her breasts." 

Cigarette burns? Jed tried to wrap his mind around that. That's what those welts had been! They had burned her with cigarettes? His sharp intake of breath drew Beth to his side to take his hand. 

After giving the President a moment to compose himself, Dr. White continued, "We're treating the burns and right now she is on an IV to replenish fluids. When she was brought in she was severely dehydrated." 

"What about the drugs?" Jed asked. 

"We've run a toxicology screen but more than likely it was GHB which we found small traces of in Zoey's blood." 

"The date rape drug," Jed nodded. It wasn't a question. 

"Unfortunately, it's very easy to gain access to." 

"And what about…" Jed trailed off unable to bring himself to ask of his wife's more intimate damage. 

"Dr. Bartlet insists that she was not raped and I didn't see any evidence of forced penetration, no vaginal tearing or bruising. However, at the very least, there was genital contact, so I've run some tests to rule out any STDs just in case." 

Jed nodded, swallowing convulsively as he tried to shut out the images of another man having sex with his wife. Brutal or not, it was rape. 

"She says there was no ejaculation, no exposure to semen but with GHB you just don't know so we also did an HIV test and…Since Dr. Bartlet is still menstruating I wanted to start her on a series of morning after pills. She refused. I understand there are religious ramifications here for her but perhaps you could talk to her about it. I know it's highly unlikely but I don't think she's going to be ready to accept pregnancy as an outcome of what has happened to her." 

"Oh God, not all this again." Jed felt his mother-in-law squeeze his hand as he stiffened with each statement the doctor made. He could feel Beth shaking with repressed emotion and he wanted to rage at the world. He couldn't believe that he was going through all this again, that ABBEY was going through all this again. 

"She said there was no exposure to semen." Jed cleared his throat. He was still confused about that one. He knew the terrorists MO, they would have tried to impregnate Abbey, not use a condom. "I have to trust my wife. You did tests, right?" 

"Of course. We swabbed for semen traces." 

"If you find that she's wrong, I'll talk to her." 

"Most of this is just precautionary." Dr. White sympathetically placed a hand on Beth's shoulder and tried to look reassuringly at the President. She didn't know what to make of him. He was staring vacantly into space, as if he had withdrawn from them all. 

"May I see her?" he asked quietly 

"What?" 

"I'd like to see my wife." 

"She's still pretty out of it, but of course you can see her. It might take quite a while for the drugs and the shock to completely wear off." 

**** 

Jed entered Abbey's room . It was a far cry from the drama and blood and urgency of the emergency room. Abbey's eyes were closed and she lay back against the white pillows. She wore a blue hospital gown and there was an IV drip in her arm. The blood had been washed from her face but the bruises still stood out against her pale skin. A large piece of gauze covered the stitched wound on her forehead. She looked so small, so vulnerable…so…broken. He inhaled deeply forcing back the sob that had wanted to burst forth ever since the doctor had mentioned cigarette burns and semen exposure and morning after pills. It brought back so many horrible memories and made what his wife had just been through even more of a reality. 

He approached the bed slowly and tentatively sat on the edge, careful not to jostle her. Her injured hand lay over her belly, the broken finger braced and bandaged. The raw skin of her wrists had been wrapped in white gauze. He gently lifted her bandaged "good" hand laying it on top of his without wiggling the IV drip that was taped to it. He sat for a long time just watching her chest rise and fall thanking God that she was back with him. No matter what had happened to her, she was safe now and she was alive. 

"Hey, baby," he tenderly brushed the hair back off her forehead. "Do you have idea of how much you scared me? I bet you don't. I'm so sorry…so sorry for all of this…I love you so much…so damn much." 

"Mmmm…no need…to curse…" Abbey's voice was groggy, her eyes only half open. 

"Ah," he smiled. "There are those pretty eyes." 

"Jed," her tongue ran over the cut on her lip. "Those men…they…" 

"Ssh…It's all over now, honey. It's all over." 

"Stay with me. Please…Don't leave me." 

"I'm not going anywhere, babe." Jed wiped the tear that trailed from the corner of Abbey's eye. "You sleep as long as you want. I'm not going anywhere." He leaned over and gently touched his lips to her brow. "You sleep, love. You're safe." 

Abbey had only been asleep for about a half-hour when Michael stepped into the room. "Mind if I join you?" he asked Jed. 

"Of course not. Is Aislinn awake?" 

"No, Beth is still with her. I just…I wanted to see my little girl." 

Michael stood beside the bed gazing down on his daughter, not touching her, just staring at her. He wasn't looking at the beautiful woman she had become; he was seeing the little girl that she had been – the little girl with the pretty red curls waiting in the window for him to return home from work. He was seeing the crying little girl who had come to him to fix her skinned knees or pull out a loose tooth. 

"I can't fix things this time, Jed," His voice was quivering with emotion. 

"What?" 

"When she was little I could fix things – a little peroxide and a Band-Aid to fix a cut, a hug and kiss to fix a broken heart. I knew what to do to fix things. I can't fix this. I don't know what to do." 

Jed thought of his own daughters – of Zoey sobbing with guilt and Aislinn refusing to speak. "I know how you feel. I want to fix everything, too. For all of them." 

"We're men. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what we're taught to do. We fix things." 

"Women know better. Abbey is always telling me that I can't fix everything. But, I can't help wanting to." 

Michael nodded, his eyes falling back on Abbey. It still amazed him at times to think about the strong, self confident, incredible woman that she had become. She had spent more years now lying at Jed Bartlet's side than she had growing up under his roof. She had borne the man six children, become a brilliant doctor and an icon of a First Lady, and yet to him she was still that adorable little girl who worshipped the ground that her daddy walked on. 

"I can't help wanting to either." 

**** 

"God, Zoey, it sounds like something out a movie," Elizabeth shuddered. Zoey had just relayed her harrowing escape through the woods to her two older sisters and her niece. 

"You must have been terrified." Ellie brushed the hair back off Zoey's forehead. 

Tears filled Zoey's eyes. "I really thought they were going to find us and kill us. I didn't think I was going to make it." 

"But, you did, sweetie." Elizabeth squeezed her hand. "You made it with Aislinn to safety and you got help to Mom." 

"I wish they'd let me see them." 

"Gramma Beth and Grampa are with Aislinn. She's still out of it from the anesthesia and Mom is in and out of it. Dad said he'd come and get us when she wakes up." 

"I can't face him." 

"Daddy?" Ellie frowned with confusion. "Why can't you face Daddy? My God, Zo, you should have seen him while you guys were missing. He was out of his MIND with worry." 

"Because of me." Zoey's shoulders shook with emotion. "All because of me." 

"What did you have to do with it?" Liz asked. 

"I brought Jean Paul into our lives. Daddy didn't want me to bring him home for Christmas but…" 

"You batted your eyes and called him 'Daddy' and he relented." All Jed Bartlet's girls knew how to get around their father. 

Zoey gave her sisters a watery smile. "Yeah. I BEGGED him and he finally relented. God, I let him into our HOUSE. I tried to get him to play with Nicky and Ash and all the time he was plotting for a way to kidnap us. How could I ever have thought that I loved him?" 

"You trusted, Zoey, and that's not always such a bad thing." Liz was very good at being the elder sister. With so many years between her and Zoey, she'd always viewed her next to youngest sister as a "baby". 

"I don't think I'll ever trust any man ever again." 

**** 

Jed sat in the uncomfortable straight-backed hospital chair beside Abbey's bed, his legs thrust out in front of him. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there watching Abbey sleep but the muscles of his back and neck were protesting loudly and his eyes burned with exhaustion. Nurses came and went monitoring her IV, her vitals, marking things down on her chart and telling him to take a break but he refused to leave her side. He'd risked everything to get her back and he'd promised her he wouldn't leave her. 

Her sleep was not peaceful; it was fitful, plagued by dark nightmares the horrors of which he could only imagine. Every so often her hands twitched, she moaned, and her head thrashed and he knew that she was in the grip of some terrible memory. That was when he would take her hand and talk to her. Hearing his voice seemed to soothe and comfort her and she would drift back off to sleep. He was afraid to doze off. Afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be there to bring her out of the darkness. 

Abbey couldn't breath. Thick tape covered her mouth and the air in the tiny closet was hot and stale. She tried to breathe through her nose but could not fill her lungs. She was lightheaded, losing consciousness; she was going to die. As darkness started to close over her, the door opened. Relief flooded her at the influx of fresh air, but her relief lasted only a minute before horror set it. Hassan Al Khaleel stood before her, his pants around his ankles, his penis in her face. He ripped the tape off her lips and ordered her to perform or he would kill her daughter. She could hear Aislinn screaming and crying. Abbey's face got closer and closer. 

"Noooo…don't make me…STOP!" 

Jed was out of his seat in an instant, as if a hot poker had prodded him. 

"Abbey…" He gently grasped her shoulders. "It's okay, Abbey. You're safe. You're only dreaming." 

Abbey swam through the remnants of her nightmare to focus on her husband's face. Her stomach clenched when she thought about telling him what she had almost done how close she had come to betraying him. "Jed," she moaned. "I'm going to throw up." 

Jed quickly jumped to his feet and grasped a basin from beside her bed making it back just in time to help her bend over the side of the bed. He held her hair back off her face while she vomited the few sips of water she had taken earlier. There wasn't anything in her belly to throw up so Jed rubbed her back while she continued to be plagued with the dry heaves. He winced every time he felt her stomach muscles clench with the need to expel something that wasn't there. 

Breathing heavily with the exertion, Abbey finally sat up. "I think I'm okay now." 

Jed emptied the basin in the bathroom and wet a facecloth with cold water. He returned to find Abbey laying weakly back against the pillows and placed the cool wet cloth against her face. 

"Better?" he asked. 

"Mmm…" she murmured. "I'm sorry, Jed." 

"Don't be sorry," His words came out on a groan of dismay. "For God's sake, Abbey, don't be sorry." 

He didn't know what to say to her, how to approach all she had been through. "You had a nightmare?" 

"Yeah." 

Jed saw her eyes cloud over with the memory of her nightmare and he left it at that. He stroked the hair back gently off her bruised forehead. "You don't have to tell me now if you're not ready. But, when you are ready to talk to me, I'm here." 

Abbey nodded, her hand moving up to take his and press it against her cheek rubbing it in a loving gesture. "Jed, what happened to the men who did this to me?" 

Jed looked deeply into her haunted eyes, thankful that he could at least put one fear to rest. "They're dead," he said tightly. 

"All of them?… Khaleel?" 

"Ron blew his cock off before he killed him." 

Abbey's mind flashed back to Khaleel's taunting face as he broke her finger, the red hot lust in his eyes as he'd shoved his finger inside her, his impassive dismissal after he'd broken Aislinn's arm, his condescending disdain as he'd order her to give him a blow job, his evil laughter as he'd parted her thighs and burned her breasts. Her stomach clenched again and she reached blindly for the basin. 

"Abbey?" Jed was confused by her reaction. "Does it bother you that he was killed?" 

"Bother me?" Abbey gazed up at him her eyes burning with hatred. "I just wish I'd been the one to pull the trigger. I hope that he burns in hell." 

Jed thought of the feel of the gun in his hand, the rage that had coursed through his veins. "Me too, babe." 

"There was a woman." 

"They found her. Zoey told the FBI that she helped in your escape. She's being held in protective custody." 

"She has children, Jed. She risked losing them to help save ours. We have to help her." 

"The CIA is already on it. If there is a way to get those kids to this country, we're going to find it." 

"Okay, then." Abbey should have known that her husband would be one step ahead of her. 

"Hey, you up for some more company?" 

Abbey looked up to see Millie and Jane entering the room. 

"Sure. But just a word of warning, I've been puking." 

Millie frowned and walked across the room pressing her fingers against Abbey's throat since her wrists were bandaged. "Your pulse is a little fast. But, that's to be expected since you've been vomiting. Any dry heaves?" 

"Millie, I have doctors," Abbey stated sarcastically. 

"A little taste of your own medicine, Dr. B.," Jed grinned. 

"Well, what's the verdict? Am I gonna live?" 

Millie looked down at her best friend, the woman she thought she might never see again. Tears clogged her throat. "I think you just might." She leaned over and kissed Abbey's forehead. 

"Millicent Griffith, don't you dare cry," Abbey warned her. "I've done enough of that and I'm sure as hell dehydrated enough." 

Millie grinned and shook her head before moving to reach for Abbey's chart. 

"You never change." Jane smiled down on her sister and leaned down to kiss her cheek. 

"Jed." Beth poked her head into the room. "Aislinn just woke up and I think she wants you." 

"She asked for me?" A flash of hope lit Jed's eyes at the notion that his daughter was speaking again. 

"Not exactly." 

"Go to her, Jed," Abbey urged him. "Bring my baby to me." 

**** 

Jed quickly opened the door to Aislinn's room; memories of her terrified fight with the doctors still fresh in his mind. But, this time she wasn't fighting. She lay back against the pillows looking incredibly tiny in such a big hospital bed. The bright pink cast that now encased her arm lay heavy on her belly. Even with the guard rails raised to protect her, it somehow didn't seem right for such a fragile little girl to be in such a big bed. She needed to be back in her crib at home. Back with her brother. Michael was sitting by her side but when she saw her daddy, her eyes lit up and she silently reached her good arm out to him, squeezing her fingers closed and open as if to draw him nearer to her. 

"Hey, sunshine. I heard you were awake." He had been informed outside her room that further examination had yielded no other injuries and Jed's relief was apparent as he nuzzled into his little girl's baby soft neck. Rubbing his sandpapery jaw against her cheeks had always been good for a giggle. This time was no exception, other than the fact that Aislinn's smile was a silent one, her body shaking quietly with her laughter. 

"Still, not ready to talk pumpkin?" He smoothed the wispy blond hair back off her face. Aislinn shook her head negatively and viewed him with solemn hazel eyes, no explanation given. 

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to wait until you're ready. But, I sure do miss your pretty voice." 

Aislinn shook her head, more vehemently this time tears pooling in her eyes. 

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, sweetheart. Daddy didn't mean to push you. It's okay if you don't want to talk." 

Aislinn sank back visibly relieved causing Jed to flash Michael a puzzled look. He wished to God that he knew what was going on inside her little head. 

Relieved at not being forced to speak, Aislinn pointed to her cast with a proud little smile. 

"You want me to look at your cast?" he asked. 

Aislinn shook her head and pointed at it again. It was then that it clicked in Jed's mind. 

"They gave you a pink cast because pink is your favorite color?" 

Aislinn smiled, pleased that he had been able to figure that out. 

"It's a really pretty cast. May I be the first to sign it?" 

Aislinn's brow furrowed. She wasn't sure what her father was talking about. Jed bummed a black marker from one of the nurses and sat to sign his name on his daughter's cast. Michael smiled when he noted that his son-in-law hadn't signed as Josiah Bartlet President of the United States, but simply "Daddy". Michael signed the cast next and then Jed sat back down beside her. 

"I have a surprise for you, Ash. Guess who's here?" 

Aislinn shook her head. She didn't know. 

"Mommy came here while you were sleeping and now she really wants to see you." 

Aislinn's eyes first lit up as they had when she saw her father and then she shrank back against the pillows making little whimpering animal noises. 

"What is it, Ash? Don't you want to see Mommy?" 

Aislinn looked her father in the eye and shook her head no; her eyes wild with fear as she made a slapping motion with her hand. 

"Oh, honey, no. The bad men aren't with her. The bad men are gone. They're gone for good and they can never harm you or Mommy or Zoey again. Do you understand?" 

It took her a few moments but Aislinn finally nodded and allowed herself to be pulled back into her father's embrace, but her eyes were still wary. 

"Now, your mommy was pretty anxious to see you. Are you ready to go see her? 

Aislinn smiled sweetly, Abbey's dimple flashing in her right cheek and she nodded. 

"Okay, then. Let's pick up Zoey and go visit your mom." 

**** 

"Abbey." Jed poked his head in her door, Aislinn on his hip. "I have a couple of young ladies here who would like to see you." 


	19. Deliver Us from Evil

Abbey smiled broadly, a lump immediately forming in her throat. "Bring them in." 

Zoey, wearing a pretty green bathrobe her sisters had brought her, rushed past her father into the room, halting when she saw her mother's pale bruised and bandaged face and the IV tube that still dripped fluid into her arm. 

"Mom!" she choked, her face crumpling. 

"Come here, baby." Abbey opened her arms. 

Zoey rushed forward into her mother's embrace. Not knowing about Abbey's burned breasts, she burrowed her face into her chest. Abbey didn't care about the pain; all that she cared about was the living, breathing proof that she had gotten her daughters out of that mess alive. 

"I'm so sorry, Mom," Zoey was sobbing now. "I didn't want to leave you…I didn't want to leave you…I didn't want to leave you." 

Abbey was crying, too. "Ssh…ssh…it's all right, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you…so proud." 

"But I left you! They were calling for me out in the woods and they were so mad, but I hid from them. I knew they were going to hurt you for helping us escape, and I never said a word. I just sat there…I just sat there and I knew they were going to hurt you." 

"Zoey." Abbey pulled Zoey's head back from her chest wiping at her daughter's tears with her thumbs. "You did the right thing. You did exactly what I told you to do. You saved your life and your sister's life and my life." 

"H…How?" 

"The FBI didn't know where we were. The terrorists were going to kill Toby and me the night that we were found. YOU gave them the directions to find us. Thanks to your detailed descriptions they were able to find us before we were killed." 

"But they HURT you." 

"Yes, yes they did. But you know what? I'd rather be hurt than dead. You did all that I asked of you, Zoey. You're a hero in my book, and I'm sure in someone else's book as well." Abbey looked over Zoey's shoulder to see her youngest daughter in the arms of her father. Aislinn was wiping Jed's tears at the mother/daughter reunion with her good fingers, a look of puzzlement on her face as her gaze moved from her father to her mother and back again. She'd never seen her father cry before. Her lips moved and Abbey could see that she was saying "Mama" but no sound came forth. 

"Come here, sweet thing." 

Jed gently set Aislinn in Abbey's arms. Abbey tucked the little girl's head up under her chin, inhaling the sweet fragrance of her hair, tears flowing freely all over again. She held her tightly her mind flashing with images of Aislinn terrified and reaching out for her, of her falling in that sickening thud to floor and of her shrieking screams of pain. 

Aislinn pushed against her mother struggling in her embrace. 

"Sorry, angel. Is Mommy holding you too tight?" 

Aislinn nodded, but cuddled back up against her again once Abbey's grip loosened. 

Jed was smiling tenderly at the reunion when the door burst open and an indignant Nicholas entered the room in front of Isabelle. 

"Mumma, Azlin…Where you GO?" 

Abbey couldn't help it; the look of outrage on her son's face was so much like Jed in an indignant huff that she burst into laughter. Her laughter caused everyone else in the room to laugh through their tears. Nicholas gave them all bewildered looks. He didn't know what he'd said to make everyone laugh but he did like being the center of attention. He grinned at them all and moved to climb up on the bed. 

"Mumma, I misted you." 

"Well, I misted you too, handsome." Abbey reached a hand out to run over her beloved little boy's cheek. Nicholas looked from his mother to his sister, a frown forming as he took in the cast on her arm. 

"Wass dat," he pointed. 

"Aislinn got a boo boo while we were away," Abbey explained. 

Nicholas looked into his sister's face and saw something in her eyes that moved him. He leaned forward and gave her a big hug, then pressed a kiss on her cast. "All betta?" he asked, just as his mother and father always asked him. 

Aislinn nodded her big eyes solemn. 

"I misted you, Azlinn," he told her, then looked back at his father unsure if he should divulge such a big secret. "Daddy cwied." 

Abbey's gaze moved over her children's fair heads to find her husband. She hadn't had the time to really think of what exactly Jed had been through for the past few days. 

Aislinn nodded again. Nicholas didn't think it was strange that she wasn't speaking; he just accepted it and gave her another hug. By the time the siblings were done hugging each other, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. But, despite the emotions from the adults in the room, the youngsters were much more matter of fact about things. 

"Mumma." Nicholas crawled up her side until he was face to face with her. "I hungwy." 

"You are?" Abbey smiled. Leave it to a child to get down to the basics. 

"We were just getting ready for supper when we got the call to come," Izzy explained. "He had a few 'Teddy Grahams' on the way over." 

"What about you, sunshine? Are you hungry?" Jed asked. 

Aislinn nodded. 

"Well, I think this calls for a little celebration. Charlie, I believe on the way into the hospital I noticed some golden arches?" 

"Jed," Abbey groaned. "Not McDonald's." 

"Our kids are two and a half and have never had McDonald's." 

"And you're thinking that's a bad thing?" 

"I'm thinking it's downright un-American and I can't have my kids being un-American. Charlie, get a pen and paper and take down some orders for my family." 

"Yes, sir." Charlie grinned. 

"I haven't been to a McDonalds since I became President. They still have those Big Macs?" 

"I believe they do, sir." Charlie's tongue was firmly stuck in his cheek. 

"I'll have one of those with fries and a coke. Happy meals for the kids. Nicky, do you want a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets?" 

"Cheesebooger." 

"Well, a cheesebooger it is for Nicholas," Jed laughed. "Now what about you, missy? Cheeseburger or chicken nuggets?" 

If he'd thought to force his daughter to speak, he had sadly underestimated her will. She simply stared at him. 

"Don't you want to tell Daddy what you want for supper?" Abbey asked her, hoping to coax a response. 

Aislinn shook her head sadly, her lip trembling with the idea that she might not get what she wanted for supper. 

"It's okay, sweets." Jed squatted in front of her. "Was it a cheeseburger that you wanted?" 

Aislinn shook her head no. 

"Chicken nuggets?" 

That drew a nod and a watery smile. 

"Chicken nuggets for Miss Aislinn." 

"And milk," Abbey interjected before he could place their soda orders. 

"Party pooper." Jed shook his head. "Now, give the man your order, doc." 

"They have salads now, don't they?" 

"Abbey, you haven't eaten in days. You aren't just having a salad." 

"Oh, fine. I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich and a DIET coke." 

"Yes, ma'am." 

Charlie finished getting the orders from the rest of the Bartlet family and was off to McDonald's. While he was gone, Aislinn was the center of attention as her whole family and the doctors and nurses signed her cast. 

"You haven't told her yet, have you?" Jed had stepped back to the doorway to allow everyone access to his daughter and Leo had come up beside him. 

"What?" Jed frowned. 

"Abbey. You haven't told her what we did." 

"She's still speaking to me, isn't she?" 

"That's what I thought. You have to tell her." 

"I know, I'm going to. It's just…She needs me right now." 

"She's still going to need you." 

"But, once I tell her she won't want me." The sweet smile on his face as he watched Aislinn belied the heavy sadness of his tone. 

"She's going to find out sooner or later." 

"I know. I'll tell her when we get back to the White House." 

Leo nodded and the two men watched CJ sign Aislinn's cast and move to sit at Abbey's bedside. 

"How are you feeling?" CJ asked her. 

"I'm still a little woozy at times, but I'm not throwing up anymore so that's a good sign." 

CJ looked to check out where the nearest basin was. "Yeah, I guess it is." 

Abbey grinned. "How are you holding up? These past few days must have been rough." 

CJ's eyes fell back to where Aislinn was seated on her grandfather's lap, a shy smile crossing her lips while Annie added her signature to all the names hearts, and smiley faces on her cast. CJ had often experienced the closeness of the Bartlet family. They might bicker, they might argue, they might sulk, but when push came to shove they were a unit. Hurt one and you hurt them all. It was a privilege to be considered part of that unit. 

"Standing up in front of the press and telling them that you and the girls had been kidnapped was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Well, other than the night that the President was shot. But, I imagine what I went through was nothing compared to what you were going through." 

This time her eyes moved pointedly to Abbey's bandaged wrists and finger then up to her forehead and the bruises that discolored her jaw. 

"I am a bit of a mess, aren't I?" Her wounded eyes met CJ's. "I can't talk to the press about this right now. It's too soon." 

"Abbey, don't even think about the press just yet. You just concentrate on getting well. We'll deal with the press when we have to. I just wanted to tell you that…Well, I heard about the feed to the White House and about how you put your life on the line to help the girls escape and I just can't tell you how much I admire you. I mean that took real courage, real bravery." 

"Believe it or not bravery had very little to do with it. Most of it was sheer instinct. There's nothing that I wouldn't do for my children. If you are ever a mother, you'll understand that. I mean I always knew on a visceral level that I would die for my children." Her eyes moved to where Zoey was helping Nicholas sign Aislinn's cast a maternal flash of fierceness lighting them. "But now I know that I would kill for them." 

CJ had no doubt that if push came to shove Abigail Bartlet would do just that. 

**** 

A half-hour later, with special permission from the nurses, the entire Bartlet and O'Neill clans were picnicking on McDonald's food all over Abbey's room. 

Abbey watched Nicholas and Aislinn digging into their bags for the toys that came with their meals. She smiled as Nicholas fed Aislinn one of his French fries smearing ketchup across her chin and Aislinn offered him one of her nuggets. As always, Jed knew best how to make her feel better. Having her family surrounding her filled her with a feeling of warmth and safety. 

"You okay?" Jed asked her, noting her shiny eyes as he placed a French fry between her lips. 

"Just happy. Just happy to be back with all of you." 

Jed nodded feeling just as strongly about her being back with them all. In fact, he hated to leave her for the night, even if he was staying at a hotel right across the street. 

"You have to go, Jed. Zoey is being released into your care tonight, and you have Nicky, too. They need you. I'll be fine. I'm exhausted. I'll just sleep." 

"Okay, but if you need me, I'm just across the street, call me." 

"I will. But, you know there's something that we haven't talked about. When do you become the President again? You didn't permanently resign, did you?" 

"No, I didn't permanently resign. I'll be here to take you and Aislinn home in the morning, then tomorrow afternoon I'll re-take the oath." 

"I'd like to be there." 

"You don't have to be." 

"Yeah. I do. I've been there for every oath of office that you've taken. You stepped down because of me. I want to be there when you retake it." 

"Okay." 

**** 

Abbey woke fairly early the next morning happy to find that her IV drip was gone. Tentatively, she got to her feet and when she realized that she was no longer wobbly, she put on her slippers and a bathrobe and made her way to the bathroom. Standing at the basin, she splashed cold water on her face to wake herself up. As she looked up to reach for a towel, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror for the first time. Her eyes widened with dismay and tears stung them as her fingers reached up to touch the jagged edges of her hair. Where it once had fallen to her shoulders in soft curls, it now barely made it to her collarbone. It looked like a child had hacked at her with scissors, like the time six year old Ellie had cut Zoey's hair. It looked absolutely, positively, HORRIBLE. She braced her hands on the sink, her shoulders shaking. 

"Abbey, don't." Jed placed his hands on her shoulders. He had seen her self-examination from the doorway, his heart breaking at the look of horror in her eyes. 

"I look AWFUL, Jed!" She whirled on him. "How can I leave here looking like THIS?!" 

"You won't have to. I had Amy call your hairstylist, that Henri guy that you rave about. He's coming here this morning to fix your hair before we leave." 

It took a moment for Abbey to register what Jed was telling her but finally she nodded and he felt the tenseness leave her shoulders as she calmed. She turned back to the mirror, her eyes now merely sad. "You hate my hair short." 

"Hate's an awfully strong word. I don't think I've ever said that." 

"Well, you prefer it long." Truth be told Abbey didn't like the way she looked with short hair either. Despite the easier upkeep, she had always preferred how sexy longer hair made her feel especially when Jed would drape the strands over his torso and grab fistfuls of it when they made love. 

"It's only hair, Abbey. It'll grow back. I'd have been happy even if you'd come back to me bald as long as you came back." 

Abbey gave him a tremulous smile, then looked longingly at the shower. "I'd like to take a shower before Henri and Aislinn's psychologist come in but I can't with the stitches in my head and my bad hand." 

"I can help you clean up. I'll wash your hair with the shower nozzle if you want." 

He felt her tense again that haunted look shadowing her eyes. 

"Unless you'd prefer a nurse." It pained him to make the offer. 

Abbey thought about the ugly burns on her breasts, wondered at her husband's reaction to them. "No," she sighed. "I guess I'd prefer you." She slipped her bathrobe off and turned so he could untie her hospital gown. Every instinct she had screamed at her to hold the gown over her chest and hide from him, but she forced herself to let it go. He was her husband. He had to see the wounds sometime. She turned around to face him, chin held high. 

Jed knew his reaction might dictate how Abbey felt about herself. About them. As he peeled the gauze pads back off her breasts, he forced himself to be matter of fact; to treat the burns as if they were any normal wounds, but it was not easy to keep the rage at bay. 

"When did they do this to you?" His voice was pained, not angry. 

"After…after they found out that Zoey and Aislinn were gone and they couldn't find them. It was part of my punishment." 

Part of…Jed couldn't bring himself to ask what the rest of her punishment had been. Instead, he focused on the blistered wounds before him. "They must hurt like a bitch." 

"Yes," Abbey's voice was barely a whisper. "They do." 

When he had peeled the last one off and stood, he saw the pain and uncertainty in her eyes, the effort it had taken her to allow him to do what he had done. He reached out a finger to trace tenderly over her bruised jaw his own eyes shining with a gentle love that filled her with warmth. 

"Thank you, Jed." 

"You're welcome, pretty lady. Now let's clean you up." 

**** 

Back in her bathrobe with her body cleansed and her hair washed, Abbey was feeling a bit more human when Dr. Moira Whitney entered the room. Dr. Whitney was a child psychologist who had been treating Aislinn since her arrival. She was supposed to be telling them what to expect from their toddler daughter. 

Jed cut right to the chase with the woman. "Why isn't my daughter talking? It's been two days now. Is there something wrong with her voice?" 

"There is nothing physically wrong with your daughter's voice box or her speech mechanisms. We have heard her mumble in her sleep. It's only when she's awake that she's silent which leads us to believe that she's in control of when she does or doesn't speak." 

"Then why?" Jed asked. "Is she angry with us? With me?" 

"Until Aislinn speaks we won't know for sure just why she is refusing to do so. But let me just make sure that you are very aware of the fact that the wounds to your daughter were not merely physical. Her problems are more than just that broken arm; there was a lot of psychological damage done to her as well. She was taken away from all that she knows by those men. She was terrorized by them, hurt by them, and even worse for a child, she watched those men hurt her mother." 

Abbey's gaze fell to the floor her fingers covering her mouth as she fought to control her emotions. "We just want to help her, Dr. Whitney. Tell us what to do to help her." 

"Don't push her. Aislinn will speak when she's ready to speak. If you push her, you're only going to make things worse. She might think that you're angry with her or displeased and retreat even further. Go along with the silence; treat her as if it's normal. It's very important that you treat her normally." 

"We shouldn't try to get her to talk at all?" This went against all that Jed felt in his heart. 

"Oh you can still ask her questions, try to draw her out. Just don't let her see that you're disappointed if she doesn't answer. It's very important that you shower her with love and with praise. Since you're going to be taking her home today, there are a few things that you should be aware of. She may revert back to babyhood behavior that she has outgrown. If she was toilet trained, you may be back in diapers for a while. If she used to suck her thumb or want a pacifier, she may want to comfort herself with those now. If she no longer has a bottle, she may only want to have a bottle now. While she might have been striving for more independence, she may be more needy now wanting to snuggle on your lap or follow you around. There will most certainly be nightmares. Do what you can to make the nights easier for her. If she wants the lights on, then by all means let her have the lights on. If she wants all her stuffed animals, let her sleep with them all. If she wants to curl up in bed with you, let her curl up in bed with you. There will be time to wean her off this behavior later. Right now your main focus is in comforting her through these terrors." 

"I didn't realize…" Jed trailed off stunned by the damage that had been done to his little girl. "I thought we could just love her through this." 

"Don't look down your nose at love, sir." Dr. Whitney smiled at the President. "Love will go a long way in helping your daughter. But, it isn't all she's going to need. My suggestion is to get her a good child psychologist fairly quickly. In fact, I think it might help you to all get some counseling." 

"I'll find her and Zoey good psychologists," Abbey assured her. Jed noted right away that she hadn't mentioned help for herself. 

"Well, then. It was nice to meet you both." Dr. Whitney stood to shake their hands. "You have a very lovely little girl; children are very resilient. With your help and with counseling, I'm sure Aislinn will make a full recovery." 

"Thank you, Doctor." 

"Sir?" A nurse poked her head in as the doctor left. "We were able to find a vase for your flowers." 

"Oh, good. Thank you." Jed turned to take the small vase from her. Abbey turned expecting to see a large fancy bouquet of roses or wildflowers; instead she was faced with four wilting daisies in skinny glass vase. She lifted her brow at the unusual choice. 

"Running low on cash today, Mr. President?" 

Jed gave her a wide grin. "These are from your son. When I mentioned to Charlie that I wanted to order you flowers, Nicholas said that he had seen some flowers and that he would pick them for you. He picked them out of the hotel flowerbeds. I don't think they were meant to be picked; we were getting the evil eye from one of the valets so I limited him to the four." 

Abbey laughed with delight. "I wish he were here so I could give him a big sloppy kiss." 

"You'll see him soon enough, provided he hasn't convinced Izzy to take him outside and picked over the rest of the flowerbeds and gotten himself kicked out." 

"I'd love to see the day a hotel would kick out the President's kid." 

"I guess there are a few perks to the job. Oh, here comes your hair man." 

"Stylist, Jed. He's a hair stylist, not my hair man." 

"Well, whatever he's called, it's my cue to leave. I'm going to see if Aislinn's up and ready to dress." 

"So, what do you say, Henri?" Abbey flashed the tall thin man a rueful smile as she pulled at a strand of her hair. "Think there is anything you can do with this?" 

"But of course, ma'am. I am, after all, Henri." 

"Yes, you are the best." 

"And that is why I am your hair man." 

"You heard that, did you?" 

Henri grinned his eyes growing dreamy. "One of these days I'm going to get my hands in that man's hair." He turned to watch Jed's departing form. "Such nice thick hair and…" 

"Henri, for God's sake, that's my HUSBAND you're drooling over." 

"A guy can dream, can't he? Besides," he sighed dramatically. "I always seem to go for the straight ones." 

**** 

When Henri was finished with Abbey, she felt much better about her appearance. She didn't like the short bob she now had, but at least the jagged edges were even, even if the more matronly cut did make her look like every other First Lady that had come along. If there was one thing that Abbey never wanted to be it was boring. She missed her sexier long hair, missed the feel of it against her shoulders, but what was done was done. As Jed had said, it would grow back. 

Abbey shut the door to her room and changed the channel from VH1, which Henri had been listening to while he cut her hair, to CNN in order to prepare herself for the coverage of her and Aislinn's departure this morning. 

"We're now going live to the White House where President Walken will take questions regarding the administration's assassination of Qumari defense minister Abdul Shareef." 

Abbey stared at the television in shock. The words had hit her like a kick to the stomach and literally knocked the wind out of her. She heard the ensuing questions and answers about the event muffled, as if she were at the end of a tunnel. The logistics didn't matter because she was still trying to wrap her mind around what she still found unbelievable. Jed – her husband, her lover, her best friend, the father of her children – had ordered the death of another human being. He had used his power to order an assassination – an assassination that had led to his own family being abducted in revenge. Azim Shareef's words came back to haunt her. 

"And you, Mrs. Bartlet, what do you think of your husband hiring assassins to do his dirty work?" 

"My husband doesn't hire assassins." 

"I beg to differ. Your husband hired an assassin to kill my brother, Abdul Shareef." 

"You're lying." 

Oh, God, Abbey despaired. He hadn't been lying. 

"I just have to sign a couple of papers and then I can spring you from this place." Jed came bounding into the room and stopped abruptly at the look on his wife's face. She looked like she had seen a ghost. 

"Was there something you wanted to tell me?" Her voice was cold. So very, very cold. 

Jed looked up at the TV and saw Abdul Shareef's face. His heart sank to his stomach and his pulse began to race. This was the moment he'd been dreading for over a year. 

"Abbey…" 


	20. Deliver Us from Evil

"It isn't true, is it? Tell me it isn't true." 

"I'm sorry you had to hear about it on television." 

A part of her had been desperately praying that he would deny it all. That everything had been done behind his back, but another part of her knew that she was grasping at straws for deep in her heart she knew exactly when this had happened. 

"Why should today be any different?" 

"Abbey." Jed took a step toward her reaching his hand out as if to comfort her. 

"Don't." Abbey flinched and stepped back from him. "I don't want you to touch me." 

Jed froze at her tone. "Abbey, please. I can explain." 

"EXPLAIN!" she exploded. "I think the time for explanations was over a year ago. I remember the night now, Jed. I remember the night that you had him killed. I left New York because Nicky was sick. I went back to Maryland. You showed up the next morning, emotionally drained and desperate. You used me." 

"Abbey, it wasn't like that." 

"Oh, it was EXACTLY like that. You wanted comfort and reassuring words and I GAVE them to you. God, I let you FUCK me right there on the kitchen table because I knew that was what you needed. You took everything that I had to give you and you gave nothing back in return. Well, nothing but an orgasm anyway." 

"Abbey, please." He couldn't help the hand that moved to reach for her again. 

"I said don't TOUCH me!" She jerked away from him. 

Jed's face shut down as she backed away from him. "This wasn't a decision that I made lightly. It was debated and discussed and agonized over for weeks." 

"Debated and discussed. I'm here. I don't remember that. Do you want to know what hurts the most? That you didn't trust me. You didn't trust me then, and you don't trust me now." 

"Abbey, it had nothing to do with trust. I did what I thought was necessary." 

"You know, they told me about the assassination." 

"Who? Who told you?" 

"Azim Shareef. He told me that you'd had his brother killed and I DEFENDED you. I called him a LIAR. God, what a pathetic little fool he must have thought that I was." 

"Abbey, there were reasons. There were reasons that I couldn't tell you." 

"Really? Okay, Jed." She crossed her arms over her breasts in a gesture of defiance and self-protection. "What exactly were those reasons?" 

Jed started to speak but felt his throat closing as he looked into green eyes that were flashing with hostility. Suddenly he was six years old again, his father furiously demanding to know how the living room window had gotten broken. He was ten years old trying to defend himself against the accusation that he'd been with the group of kids that had been throwing snowballs at a teacher's car. He was sixteen years old trying to defend his position that women teachers deserved equal pay with men. He was twenty-two years old defending Abbey's virtue to a man who had been trying to bend the couple to his will to force them to go to a New Year's Eve party. In every instance, he'd been the one in the right, but in every instance, there had been no defense. John Bartlet was never wrong and Jed had always paid the price when he forgot that. 

He'd come a long way from the boy that he'd been, but that boy still lurked inside the man, avoiding conflict and not making the effort to defend himself because it wouldn't get him anywhere. Making matters even worse was the fact that he wasn't sure that he COULD mount much of a defense in this case. Yes, there were reasons that he'd done what he did, but he'd had a man KILLED. He wasn't sure his wife would understand any explanation for that. 

"Well," Abbey said finally. "When you come up with an explanation please let me know." She turned from him but just as Jed finally forced himself to speak a nurse knocked on the door. She had the wheelchair that would take Abbey and Aislinn to the helicopter pad on the roof and any chance he might have had to help her understand was gone. 

It was a very cold flight back to D.C.. The rest of the Bartlet family had departed from the hotel earlier that morning and had taken Nicholas with them, so it was just Jed, Abbey and Aislinn on the helicopter. Aislinn had fallen asleep against Jed's arm not long after they were airborne but Abbey remained wide-awake staring out the window, her arms wrapped around her torso as if to comfort herself. Jed ached to hold her in his arms, to help her and comfort her. 

But, it was easy to see that she had erected a wall around herself. Granted right now it was a fragile glass wall, one that he could easily shatter if he were so inclined. But, he wasn't quite sure he was ready to try to shatter it yet. At the moment, he didn't have a clue as to how to make things better with his wife. 

By the time they landed at the White House, Abbey was ashen faced and distant. She smiled as she moved to unbuckle a sleepy Aislinn, but her smile did not extend to her eyes and nor did it extend to her husband. 

Many of the Bartlets and O'Neills had flown home with Abbey's rescue, but there were a few who had remained behind; and those that had immediately sensed the change between the couple. The loving closeness of the previous day was gone and in its place was a tense curt coolness. 

Abbey would like to have not spoken to Jed for the rest of the day, but unfortunately when there were kids involved things didn't always work out the way she wanted them too. As parents, they had to communicate. 

"Jed, can you watch the kids for a while?" she asked. She wasn't going to pawn the children off on the nanny in the vulnerable state they were in. "I need to get ready for the oath." 

"You're going?" He was surprised. 

"I said I'd be there." 

"Abbey." Jed moved to her wanting to make things better and not knowing how. 

"Right now I just want to be alone, Jed." 

"Right now is when you SHOULDN'T be alone." 

"I don't think you're in any position to tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing." 

Jed stepped back as if she'd slapped him. Abbey swallowed tightly seeing the pain she had caused him. 

"Look, will you watch the kids or not?" 

"I'll watch the kids." 

She nodded and entered the bedroom. She shut the door and leaned heavily back against it her eyes burning with unshed tears. This whole day had just all been so surreal. One minute she was clinging to her husband needing the safety and security of his arms and the next minute she was pushing him away needing to keep her distance for the fear that she might say something that she could never take back, something that she would regret for the rest of her life. 

Numbly, in a fog of grief, she made her way to the bathroom running her bath as if on autopilot, turning on the hot water, pouring in some rose scented milk bath and finally slipping out of her clothes and into the bubbly warm water. She sank deeply, all the way down sighing as the water soothed her aches and bruises. From the moment Hassan Al Khaleel had touched her, this was what she had been longing for, the moment when she could wash away the feel of his hands, his lips, his penis. She scrubbed valiantly at her arms, her belly, between her legs, until her skin was pink and tender and then she lay back against the porcelain tears burning hot tracks down her cheeks. She wished desperately that she'd never heard the name Abdul Shareef, for what she wanted now more than anything was to be held in the safety of her husband's arms. But that was a luxury that she was going to have to forgo, for she wasn't sure she would ever find it in her heart to forgive him for what he had put she and their daughters through. 

Finally, as the water chilled, Abbey climbed from the tub and stood before the large mirror over the sink. She almost didn't recognize the woman looking back at her. She looked haggard and older, and it wasn't just the awful short hair that had been foisted upon her. It was in her eyes. There wasn't any laughter in them anymore, no spark, no life. She felt dead inside and a part of her wondered if she would ever be the same again. Would she ever be able to feel anything but this soul numbing pain and fear? Would she ever feel carefree and joyful again? Right now that seemed absolutely impossible. 

**** 

Jed sat on the couch lost in the thought, elbows on his knees. Nicky and Aislinn were kneeling in front him at the coffee table coloring in the books he'd brought out for them, but he wasn't watching them, not really. His mind was replaying the scene in the hospital with his wife, seeing the pain and burning accusation in her flashing eyes. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her and yet he had done so. Because of him, she had been hurt both physically and emotionally. 

"Dad." Elizabeth stood beside the couch, Ellie silently behind her. Jed was so lost in thought he didn't take any notice. "Dad." It was more forceful this time. 

"Hunh?" Jed turned to see his daughters at his side. "What is it?" 

"Mom didn't know, did she?" 

Jed turned away from them staring silently into space. It was all the answer Liz needed. She turned on her heels to leave the room. Ellie was torn. A part of her was angry with her father for hurting her mother but another part of her ached for him. She alone had seen the pain and torment that he'd gone through while her mother and sisters were missing and now seeing him so hurt and lost was breaking her heart. On impulse, she moved to him wrapping her arms around him from behind and laying her cheek against his. 

A lump filled Jed's throat at the warmth of his daughter's embrace and, for a moment, he clung to her, needing to know that he was not alone, that he had not alienated his entire family. Ellie held on to him tightly the need to comfort him consuming her. For so long, since he had begun running for President, she had felt left out of his life. But, now he was hers again, not the President, her daddy. The man who had pushed her in the tire swing at the farm. The man who had taught her how to ride her bike and read _Anne of Green Gables_ to her every night when she had the chicken pox. The man who had helped her through her first period while her mother was at work and the man who had cheered her on so loudly at her field hockey games. Somewhere along the way, she'd lost that man. He'd become a governor, a President, a public life that had alienated and scared her but he was back now. Her daddy was back and she wasn't ever going to let him forget how much she loved him. As pissed as everyone was with him right now, she was not going to let him think that he was alone. He needed her and she was going to be there for him. 

**** 

The re-taking of the oath was done in the privacy of the Oval Office with just the staff and a couple of the photographers in attendance. Abbey stood stoically at her husband's side. If anyone wondered at the beaming smile of pride that was missing from her face, they did not comment on it. With the oath taken, Jed was once again the President of the United States and as such he made his way outside to the Rose Garden to address the press and, by extension, the American people. The whole twenty-fifth amendment was an intriguing story for the press, but really everyone was there to see Abbey Bartlet. She stood behind the President while he spoke of her triumphant return and that of their daughters. Her hair was cut short, a gauze pad covered one side of her forehead and there was a yellowing bruise on her jaw. Nobody really knew yet what had happened to the First Lady and her daughters while they were in captivity, but it was a story every journalist was itching to dig into. 

Abbey stared vacantly ahead. She could see the reporters scribbling notes; the cameras focused on her. She knew that she was the center of attention here and the thought made her sick to her stomach. She didn't want to be on display. She didn't want to talk to the press or anyone else about her ordeal. She wanted to go somewhere far, far away; somewhere safe where she could hide away and lick her wounds in private. She wanted to go home. 


	21. Deliver Us from Evil

Abbey re-entered the building behind Jed surprised to see Ellie in an intimate conversation with none other than the very handsome Congressman Sam Seaborn. A big smile crossed Jed's face at the sight of his friend and former senior staffer. She knew that he hadn't picked up on the subtle man/woman interaction that she had picked up on or he wouldn't be smiling quite so broadly. He was a man after all and intuition had never been his strong point. Seeing the chemistry between and Sam and Ellie was a surprise. They didn't know each other all that well. Ellie had not been a big part of the presidential campaigns and they had only seen each other once in while at the farm and when she infrequently visited the White House. But, there it was. 

Abbey knew her middle daughter very well. Ellie was not a natural flirt and tease like Zoey, in that respect, Zoey took after her. Ellie was quieter in her interest, more like her father, but the interest was definitely there. And, from what Abbey could see, the interest was mutual. Despite the over ten year age difference between the two, seeing the attraction between them intrigued her more than it upset her. Ellie was the most private, most introverted of her daughters. She was the one who had had the most issues with her father's chosen profession, yet if Abbey wasn't mistaken, here she was showing interest in a man who was so very, very much like her father. Like Jed Bartlet, Sam was handsome, idealistic, intelligent, trusting, and even naive to a certain extent. He was also a politician. It would be interesting to see how Ellie would cope with that. 

"Mrs. B.," Sam smiled and approached her with three large bouquets of flowers and several cards. "These are for you and Zoey and Aislinn." 

"Thank you, Sam." Abbey accepted his kiss to the cheek. 

"And these cards are from all the members of Congress. We couldn't get all the signatures onto one card, that's why you have so many." 

"And you got elected to bring this over." 

"We'll, I sort of have an in at the White House. I mean I WAS right there in the room when Aislinn was born." 

"Sam," Abbey laughed at the blush that now stained his cheeks. "You weren't actually there the moment I delivered her. I was still in labor when you came in." 

"Well, it was a close enough call for me. Anyway, we just all wanted you to know how very happy we are that you're all back and you're all safe." 

"Well, thank you, Sam." The smile left Abbey's face at the reminder of what she had been through, but she was ever the gracious First Lady. "And please, thank the members of Congress for me." 

"Ma'am." CJ came around the corner. "I know that this might not be an appropriate time but…" 

"Let me guess. The press wants an interview with me. They want me to spill my guts on national TV." 

"Well, of course they want that, but they know that isn't coming any time soon. What they want now is to see Zoey and Aislinn." 

"No." It was one word but it was firm and it was final. 

"Mrs. Bartlet, there is a lot of speculation going on. Speculation that the girls were hurt worse than they were." 

"They were hurt ENOUGH, CJ. I'm not putting them through this. I can't believe you'd even ask me." 

"Ma'am, if this were just the press I'd blow them off. But, this is more for the American public." 

"What?" 

"You don't know what it was like while you were gone. There was nothing on TV but twenty-four hour special reports about your kidnapping. There were videos of your lives and of your speeches. Candlelight vigils were held in every major city and all over the nation. Churches opened for special services for people to join together and pray for your safe return. Schoolchildren made cards for Aislinn. Phone calls, telegrams, emails and letters poured into the White House. Whether you realize it or not, you all are part of America's family. They love you, they love your children." 

When Abbey didn't say a word, CJ touched her elbow. "Please come with me." 

CJ brought her to her office and popped a videotape in the VCR. Abbey watched in stunned silence as the images worked their way across the screen. Thousands of people with lit candles lining the Charles River in Boston, filling the pastures of Central Park, crowding under the arch in St. Louis, making their way across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and singing hymns in front of the White House. There were grade school children offering their own teddy bears to Aislinn, and people, strangers, breaking down outside of churches and crying as they spoke of wanting the First Lady and her daughters to come home safely. There were moments of silence on Wall Street and in the London House of Commons, and heartfelt prayers offered by the Pope to their kidnappers pleading for their safe release. It was still hard sometimes for her to believe that what she viewed as her own private life was anything but private anymore. It was both touching and a bit overwhelming to see what she and her family meant to the world. 

"I want to do it, Mom." 

Abbey turned to see Zoey in the doorway. Neither had heard her enter the room. 

"What?" 

"I was just going through some of the letters and cards that were sent here while we were gone. A lot of people prayed really hard for us. They cared about us. I want them to see that I'm okay too." 

"You're sure?" Abbey was still reluctant to parade her daughters in front of the press. 

"I'm sure." 

Abbey turned back to CJ. "Okay, then, but no speaking. She'll walk before the press with her father. Let them see that she's okay and that's it." 

"That's fine." CJ smiled tenderly at mother and daughter and turned to leave the room to alert the press. 

"CJ," Abbey called out to her. 

"Yes, ma'am?" 

"Just Zoey, no Aislinn. She's too little. It would be too overwhelming for her." 

"Yes, ma'am. I understand." 

**** 

"Do you want to finish up now so you can get up to Abbey and the kids and have supper?" Leo asked. "The rest of this can wait until morning." 

Jed looked up at the clock. If only it was that easy, he thought to himself. "I don't think Abbey would relish the idea of eating a meal with me right now." 

"She's pretty pissed?" 

"Yeah, you could say that." 

"Did you explain to her? I mean she has to understand why…" 

"Leo, I really don't want to talk about this. We have a lot of catching up to do and we have to come up with a vice president. I'll talk to Abbey when she calms down about everything. Right now she's in no frame of mind to listen to anything that I have to say." 

Leo nodded and reached for another folder. He had never been the type of person to pry into a friend's personal life, especially when that friend was shutting down on the subject. Jed loved Abbey. Abbey loved Jed. He had to trust that they would be able to work things out on their own terms. 

Jed kept hard at work for a couple more hours. Avoidance of his wife's anger had always been easier for him than dealing with it straight on, especially when he knew it was not an anger that he could easily cajole her out of. He was hoping to give her the time and space that she needed to work through everything, but he couldn't stay away from his children. He had been a very lucky man to get his daughters back alive and he wasn't going to allow his trepidation over his wife's mood to keep him away from them. 

He arrived in the nursery just as Abbey was finishing putting the twins' pajamas on. They were still damp and warm from their baths; Abbey's face still flushed from the steam. 

"Daddy wead?" Nicholas moved to the bookcase and pulled out several books. 

Jed didn't want to step on any toes. "Is it okay if I read to them and tuck them in?" he asked Abbey. 

Abbey nodded curtly. "Their bottles are on the dresser. Nicholas decided that if Aislinn was getting a bottle he was getting one, too." 

Jed nodded remembering what the psychologist had said. 

Abbey often stood in the doorway to watch her husband cuddle their children as he read to them, but tonight she was too raw, too hurt. She wanted to stay angry with him and watching him with their kids was certainly not a way to achieve that. Jed watched with a pained heart as his wife left the nursery with nary a glance back at them. 

"Okay." He forced himself to be ebullient. "Who's thirsty?" 

"Me, me." Nicholas bounced on his toes. Aislinn emulated his excitement but merely opened and closed her fingers to express her wishes. 

Jed handed them each one of the bottles Abbey had made up, then lifted them up onto his lap. He discarded _Little Red Riding Hood_ and Jan Brett's _The Trouble with Trolls_ for he wasn't about to read to his daughter anything that included fictional monsters. The poor thing had enough nightmares dealing with the real life monsters she now knew. Finally, he got to _Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day_ and he started to read. 

Later, with both children safely tucked away and the nightlights and one beside lamp left on, Jed made his way to his own bedroom. He wasn't sure what to expect from his wife. He was hoping to find that she'd thawed out a bit and would be willing to talk to him, but he was afraid that it was more likely that he was going to find his pajamas in a pile outside their door. He was grateful when he didn't see the pajamas, but surprised when he opened the door to find Abbey already in bed sleeping. It was barely eight o'clock. But, then again, it had been a long day and she was still probably still suffering the effects of the trauma of her kidnapping. 

Thankful that she hadn't booted him out of the bedroom, he decided to turn in early as well. After brushing his teeth and changing into his pajamas, Jed slid into bed next to his wife for the first time in five days. He wished that their reunion had been under different circumstances. He wished that he could roll over and wrap her in his arms holding her protectively in his embrace. Instead, he reached out a tentative gentle hand and rested it on the curve of her hip, if nothing else than to reassure himself that she was back and safely in his bed. Abbey felt it but didn't acknowledge it. She wanted so desperately to close off to him, but the contact of his hand was soothing and calming; and while she couldn't admit that to him, neither could she shove it off. Instead, she allowed the tears to seep from the corners of her eyes wetting the pillow with her misery. 

**** 

Deep in the night when she was most vulnerable her guard completely down, the nightmare took hold deep in the recesses of Abbey's mind. Her wrists were taped up to the bedposts; she was naked, spread-eagle with Hassan Al Khaleel between her thighs, an evil grin on his face and a burning cigarette between his fingers. With a demonic laugh, he moved the burning red ember closer to her chest…closer…closer…closer… 

She came awake with a start, her hands clutching tightly to the sheets, her heart still racing with the remnants of her terror. She lay still for a few moments inhaling deeply to calm herself. As much as she didn't want to admit it, having Jed sleeping soundly beside her helped her to regain her composure. She couldn't, however, fall back asleep. Finally after tossing and turning, her mind filled with images she wanted desperately to forget, she rose to her feet, slipped her bathrobe on and left the bedroom, Max just barely a step behind. Since she had returned, he had become even more of her shadow. As she moved to the kitchen to warm some milk for herself, she found that Zoey was lying on the couch watching a movie. Abbey moved to her, sitting on the edge of the coffee table. 

"What are you doing up?" 

"Watching a movie." 

"You know what I mean. Couldn't you sleep?" 

"Couldn't YOU sleep?" Zoey countered. 

Abbey knew that total honesty was going to be very important in getting them all through the psychological ramifications of their kidnapping. "Yes, I could sleep. I just couldn't stay asleep. I had a nightmare." 

"That's what I'm afraid of," Zoey's voice was barely a whisper. "I'm afraid that if I fall asleep, I'll have another nightmare." 

"Tell you what. I'll stay out here with you and we'll watch a movie and if we fall asleep and have a nightmare, we'll be able to wake each other up. Deal?" 

"Deal." Zoey sat up so her mother could sit beside her. 

"What are you watching?" Abbey asked. 

"Dumb and Dumber." 

"Oh, Zoey," Abbey groaned. 

"I wanted funny. But, you can pick out something else if you want." 

Abbey moved to check out their movie selection looking to choose a better comedy. She bypassed her and Jed's collection of Tracy/Hepburn films because they reminded her too much of Jed. The movies had been favorites of them both since their college days and they often snuggled up on the couch to watch _Adam's Rib_ or _Woman of the Year_. Millie had often said that she and Jed reminded her of a good Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn movie and that certainly was not what she needed to be reminded of tonight. Instead, she settled on Hepburn and Cary Grant in the zany _Bringing Up Baby_ and sat down on the couch with Zoey's head on her lap and Max curled up warmly on her feet. 

**** 

The dreams held off for Jed until morning, but just after dawn they came fast and furious. Zoey was a young girl again riding Morningstar in the paddock at the farm. He was watching her, applauding her horsemanship and then Morningstar spooked. He held his breath as the horse whinnied and shied and he watched helplessly as Zoey lost her balance. She was falling and he couldn't reach her to save her. 

"Zoey…Zoey…" he mumbled in his sleep. But, before he awakened, his mind moved on to more torturous images. Images of Aislinn, so heartbreakingly innocent and adorable as she smiled and waved back to him, blowing him a kiss as she left the White House, then screaming with terror as she was lifted off her feet by a large man in a ski mask and taken kicking and shrieking from the barn. 

"N…no…" his moans were growing more distressed. 

Abbey was sitting with the girls in the sunshine watching the equestrian events and sipping lemonade. She was smiling, so completely unaware of the danger that lurked around the corner for her. But, he knew. He knew what was about to happen and he was running to them his terror mounting as he watched them all enter the barn. No, no, he had to stop them. He ran faster, threw open the barn doors and watched as the van drove away with his wife and two daughters leaving him with only a sneaker, a blankie, and a necklace to remember them by. He started to run again chasing the van down the road. 

"Abbey…ABBEY!" 

He jerked away with a start, much as his wife had earlier that night. He was out of breath, emotionally exhausted. His hand automatically reached out for his wife and he panicked when he felt her cold empty side of the bed. For a moment his heart lurched thinking that finding her had only been a good dream in a sea of nightmares. He got to his feet, still shaky with the remnants of his nightmare. He realized that he had been holding his breath when he found Abbey sitting up, head thrown back sleeping on the couch with Zoey's head in her lap. Zoey was not asleep; she was staring straight ahead at a TV that held no picture. Her big green eyes were horribly vacant and haunted. He didn't know what horrific pictures she was seeing on that screen but he was sure it wasn't blank. 

Zoey saw movement at the foot of the couch and turned away from the TV. A broad sunny smile crossed her face. "Dad." 

It was one simple word but the wealth of love and affection behind it caused his breath to catch in his throat. "Did you guys spend the whole night out here?" he spoke quietly trying not to wake Abbey as he bent to kiss his daughter on the forehead. 

"Pretty much. We watched _Bringing Up Baby_." 

Jed smiled lovingly down at mother and daughter. He knew it was one of Abbey's favorite movies. "Well, I'm going to go and get your brother and sister moving. Is there anything I can get you?" 

"I'm not an invalid, Daddy." 

"Indulge me, sweetheart." 

"I'm fine, really. I'll be in for breakfast in a little bit." 

**** 

Jed's heart constricted as he entered the nursery to wake up the twins. Sometime during the night Nicholas had climbed out of his crib and into Aislinn's. They lay together; their foreheads pressed together, Nicky's arm thrown over Aislinn's shoulder in a position very reminiscent of the ultrasound they had gotten when Abbey was in her seventh month of pregnancy. It was the way that they had curled up in Abbey's womb and it was obviously comforting for them now. It seemed a shame to wake them up, so instead Jed started to pull out diapers and clothing for them to wear for the day. With the noise he was making, by the time he was finished, the children were starting to stir. As he pulled their sleepy bodies from their cribs, Aislinn made her way to the CD player pointing at it urgently as she tried to convey to Jed what she wanted. Suddenly it hit him. He remembered how important routine had been for Nicholas while Abbey and the girls were gone, evidently it was just as important to Aislinn now that she was home. 

"You want me to play _Here Comes the Sun_?" 

Aislinn nodded enthusiastically dancing on her tiptoes as Jed popped the CD in and the familiar song filled the room. While he changed their diapers and dressed them, Jed sang along just the way that Abbey always did. Then he brought them into the kitchen, sliding them into their high chairs while he started to prepare breakfast. By the time Zoey entered the room, he had the cappuccino maker gurgling, eggs scrambling on the burner, _The Lion King_ soundtrack playing and much to the twins giggling delight he was singing along to _Hakuna Matata_. 

"So I see you decided to join the 21st century." Zoey moved to give her father a good morning hug. 

"Don't tell anyone." He kissed her cheek, then turned back to the sizzling bacon. 

"Morning munchkins." Zoey bent over each high chair to kiss her brother and sister on their chubby little cheeks then turned back to her father, popping one of the Cheerios he had spread onto their trays into her mouth. "Anything I can do to help you?" 

"Could you make up a couple of bottles of apple juice for the twins and maybe slice some grapefruit. Your mother likes her grapefruit." 

Zoey sent her father a pained glance. She knew why her mother was so upset but it was hard for her to watch her father trying so hard to get back on good terms with her. 

Abbey entered the kitchen still groggy from her lack of sleep. "Good morning." 

Jed was gratified that she'd actually spoken to him and turned to her hopefully but she was already walking past him to get to the refrigerator where she pulled a couple of ice packs out of the freezer. 

"Did you smell the coffee?" Zoey asked. 

"I heard it," Abbey told her. "Could that thing BE any louder?" She handed her daughter one of the ice packs. "You shouldn't be on that ankle so much. Sit down and elevate it and keep ice on it." 

"It's feeling much better, Mom. It's just a sprain." 

"Zoey, put the ice on it." 

Zoey knew that when her mother used that firm tone and got that stubborn glint in her eye there was no getting around her. 

Abbey poured herself a cup of cappuccino then sat at the kitchen table with the twins pressing her own ice bag against her jaw. 

"Mumma fall down?" Nicholas asked. 

"What?" Abbey was confused for a moment by the question then realized that Nicky's only frame of reference came from himself and most of the time when he hurt himself it was because he fell. "No, honey. Mommy didn't fall down." 

Aislinn's eyes grew stormy as she looked from her mother to her brother and she reached out her hand in a slapping motion. Nicholas stared at her not comprehending. Aislinn reached over to the ratty old stuffed Tigger he carried around and slapped it across the face. 

Abbey didn't know how to react to her daughter's actions. Instead, she bent to pick up Tigger off the floor and hand him back to a distraught Nicholas. 

With a pang, Jed had observed every moment of his daughter's re-enactment of what had happened to her mother at the hands of the kidnappers. The thought of those animals not only slapping his wife around but also doing it in front of their daughter still rubbed him raw. "Don't worry, Aislinn. Nobody's going to hit your mother again. I'm not going to let anyone hurt any of you." 

"Don't promise them things, Jed. You have no idea of what can happen to us." Abbey's spine stiffened and while she turned to face him, it was as if she were looking right through him. There were dark circles under her eyes attesting to her lack of sleep and she wrapped her arms around her middle as if protecting herself against a cold that Jed didn't feel. 

"I'm meeting with Ron this afternoon," she told him, her voice devoid of emotion. 

"What for?" 

"I want to go over security for all the kids. I want to know every detail of his plans to keep my children safe." 

"Our children," he reminded her. "And you don't need to worry about that. Ron and I have gone over this extensively." 

"YOU'VE gone over it with him, I haven't. That isn't going to cut it for me anymore, Jed. I want to know everything that is being done when it comes to safety issues. And...and I want to take Zoey, Aislinn and Nicholas to the farm. I want to take them home." 

"I understand where you're coming from, Abbey, but I can't leave the White House right now." 

"I know you can't." She got to her feet and moved to place her mug in the sink. She knew that her words had cut into him like a knife and while a part of her was sorry for that, a bigger part wanted to inflict the same kind of pain on him that she had felt when she found out about Abdul Shareef. 

"They're my kids too, Abbey. I'd like to think that I have a say in whether you take them away from me or not." 

"I'm not taking them away from you, Jed. I'm taking them away from here – away from this place and the media and this whole circus lifestyle. They need peace and quiet and time to heal. Think about it, Jed. Think about what's best for them, for us, not what's best for you." 

On that note, Abbey turned to leave the room knowing that her words had made their mark. 


	22. Deliver Us from Evil

Abbey was on her way to the meeting she had set up with Ron when Amy caught up with her in the Residence. Her Chief of Staff was prattling on about the CDC budget, something that Abbey supposed she had been interested in at one point, before her world had turned upside down and inside out. Now, for the life of her she couldn't concentrate on what Amy was saying; it was just a bunch of white noise in the background of her thoughts about what she wanted to discuss with Ron. It was the expectant look on Amy's face when she had finished speaking that made Abbey realize that she was not the same person that she had been at the beginning of the week. She could see that the staff was expecting her to just pull herself together and get back to work as if nothing had happened. They had all been able to do that, but she couldn't. Something had happened that had fundamentally changed her. Her priorities had changed in a very big way and going back to business as usual was going to be impossible for her. 

"Amy, you're going to have to handle things a little while longer for me. I trust you, that's why I hired you." She turned and entered the sitting room where Ron was waiting for her. 

"Sorry if I kept you waiting, Ron," she apologized. 

"Its fine, ma'am." 

"Well, you know I wanted to discuss the changes that you've made regarding the safety of my children." 

"Yes, ma'am. I've spoken with the President." 

"Yes, and now you're speaking with me." 

Ron cleared his throat at the sharp tone clearly unused to this side of the First Lady. "Well, really the big changes will come with Zoey since when Aislinn and Nicholas leave the White House it is generally with you or the President. We have upped the detail on you to nearly what we have on the President and when you have the children there will be an additional six agents, three for each child. We're going to double Zoey's detail, agents flanking her just like the President." 

"No more running out for yogurt?" 

"We're going to need three days notice for side sweeps and background checks for anyone she may come in contact with." 

"I'm going to need a minute to process this." Abbey gave him an apologetic half smile. Just thinking about what this was going to do to Zoey was enough to give her pause. Her daughter deserved her privacy and the little bit of freedom that she'd had before the kidnapping. Now it was going to be like being on house arrest for the young woman. 

"I do have one question." 

"Yes?" 

"How would you compare the Residence and the farm?" 

"In terms of security?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, you're aware we have the farm continually secure. It doesn't have bulletproof windows or a crashproof gate. Here we're in a fortress. On the other hand, the White House is a target. Ground zero." 

"Thank you," Abbey nodded. "And Ron," Abbey stopped him as he was about to depart the room. 

"Yes, ma'am." 

"Thank you for everything." 

"Ma'am?" 

"For finding me…For Khaleel." 

Ron thought of the very satisfying shot that he had made to the terrorists groin. The shot was all the more satisfying as he watched the aftermath of Khaleel's work, watched this wonderfully strong woman having to grapple with her pain and fear. He wasn't going to pretend that he didn't know what she was talking about. 

"You're welcome." He nodded and left the room. He bumped into Leo in one of the halls. 

"Ron? I thought we had a meeting with the First Lady." 

"She moved it up. We've already met," Ron flashed him a puzzled look. He'd assumed Leo had been informed. 

It took Leo a moment to swallow the fact that Abbey had blatantly snubbed him. "I'd like a copy of your security report." 

"Of course." 

"Anything I should know?" 

"She asked me about securing the farm." 

"She's going to the farm?" 

"You'll have to ask her about that." 

"Thank you, I will." 

**** 

Abbey was staring out the window deeply lost in thought. As she peered out at the now empty gardens, she could still see all the flashbulbs popping and hear the reporters shouting questions out at both her and Zoey. They were in a frenzy, like sharks at feeding time and there was no way they were going to be happy until they knew everything, every minute detail of their captivity. Flashing in her mind's eye were the embarrassed and concerned looks on the faces of people like Glen Allen Walken, Admiral Fitzwallace, Nancy McNally, all those people who had been present in the situation room witnessing what she considered her humiliation at the hands of Hassan Al Khaleel. There was nothing Abbey hated more than being pitied. 

"Abbey?" 

The hand on her shoulder was strong and masculine and Abbey froze. Panic ripped at her, deep deep inside. She wanted to run but felt frozen in that spot, her legs suddenly weak with terror. Her vision blurred and she knew that she had to inhale but somehow she couldn't remember how to breathe. Her heart began to pound erratically and for one instant she was back in that dark room in the trailer, Khaleel grasping at her threatening her. 

"Please…stop touching me…don't do this to me." 

Horror filled Leo's eyes at Abbey's terrorized reaction to his touch. "Abbey." He turned her so she faced him. "It's me. It's Leo. I'm not going to hurt you." 

Abbey yanked away from him pressing her back into the wall. It damn near broke Leo's heart to see her wet eyelashes and the tears pooling in her beautiful hazel eyes. 

Abbey focused on the man before her. Through the clouded mess that was her mind, she knew that it was Leo, not Khaleel, and she knew that he was not going to hurt her, but she couldn't keep her body from shaking with the residual fear of that hand on her shoulder. 

"Abbey, are you all right?" He moved forward to grasp her shoulders. 

"I'm fine," Abbey flinched from him. "Just…please don't touch me." 

"Okay, honey," Leo lifted his hands in the air. "I'm not touching you. Should I get Jed?" 

Now that her panic was receding Abbey was embarrassed by her reaction to Leo. "No…no, Leo. I told you I'm fine." 

Sure you are, Leo thought. She certainly didn't look fine. Her face had gone white as a sheet and her hands were shaking, her eyes still radiating fear. Those bastards had really worked her over. 

Wanting nothing more than to be alone with her fears, Abbey sat on the couch staring straight ahead, hoping he would leave. She knew he was going to be angry about her taking the kids and leaving Jed right now and while she was spoiling for that fight, she wasn't sure she had the energy to deal with it. "What are you doing here anyway?" she finally asked when she realized that he wasn't leaving. 

"I came for the meeting we were supposed to have. I hadn't heard that you were thinking about New Hampshire. That might be for the best." 

Abbey didn't want nor need his approval. "I moved the meeting up because I didn't want you here." She looked him directly in the face. The urge to lash out at him right now was very strong. 

"In the meeting?" 

"In the Residence." She wanted him to hurt just as much as she was hurting. He was just as much to blame for what happened to her and the girls as Jed was. She knew that assassination would never have been in Jed's vocabulary, that one had Leo written all over it. She took a small flicker of satisfaction at the surprise and pain on Leo's face at the knowledge that she wanted to cut him out of their lives, at the moment, then saw the slow acceptance of that. 

"Yeah," Leo agreed. The guilt at seeing little Aislinn and Zoey, and then later Abbey had eaten at him for days now. He deserved Abbey's cutting anger and he knew it. She had been through hell because of him, because of a decision that he had forced down Jed's throat. "I've been trying to…Well, I thought you'd need some space." 

His understanding didn't cut it with Abbey. Too much had happened for her just to forgive and forget. Her daughters had very nearly been killed. 

"My girls are back. They're safe. They're going to stay safe." 

"We all want what's best for you and the girls." 

"You laid us open." Anger was replaced by hurt now. Leo was her husband's best friend, he'd been a close friend of hers for over thirty years, he was Zoey's godfather, and he had done this to them. "You laid me and my daughters wide open and God knows what else is out there." 

"There's nothing else," Leo assured her. 

"I swear to God, Leo, don't," Abbey's voice dripped with bitterness. "It's been 72 hours. Have you seen my little girl's arm in a cast? Have you seen Zoey hobbling around on her crutches? Have you looked at my face? And those are just the physical scars, Leo. For God's sake, don't ask me to trust you." 

Leo tried to mask the pain of her words but he understood completely why she didn't trust him. "I'm not." 

"And don't think you took the bullet. I blame Jed. He did this." 

Abbey rose to her feet. Leo stared after her departing form his chest aching with pain. If only it was that simple. He wished that he WAS taking the bullet for Jed. He knew that Abbey's anger was masking a soul-deep pain at having to blame her husband for the kidnapping and he knew the horrible agony her accusations were going to cause his friend. More than any time, Jed and Abbey needed each other, but with Abbey leaving for New Hampshire he was afraid the wedge between them would only grow bigger and bigger. 

**** 

"Sir, do you have a moment?" Charlie entered the Oval Office where the President was just getting off the phone. Jed had kept himself busy all day working on finding a vice president. It was something that was imperative that he do but also kept him from thinking about what Abbey had asked of him that morning. 

"You don't want to be Vice President, do you?" 

"No." 

"Then you can stay." 

"It's about Zoey." 

That got Jed's attention. He gazed up from his folder. "Something happen?" 

"She had trouble talking to Will." 

"Really?" Jed was surprised. "'Cause she was fearless with the press." 

"Yes, sir. She does that." 

Jed's mind quickly flashed to the nightmare that he'd had that morning of a very young Zoey on horseback fearlessly leaping fences in the paddock at the farm. "You've said this before." 

"Sir?" 

But Jed was not in the Oval Office anymore. He was remembering Charlie's first visit to the farm and he, Charlie and Abbey grinning and watching Zoey jump fences on her horse. 

_(Bartlet Farm, NH 1999)_

"Look at that, she's fearless." Jed was beaming with pride. 

"She puts up a good front," Charlie said. 

At the time his words went completely over Jed's head, he was too engrossed in his paternal pride. "Name one thing, one thing my little girl's afraid of." 

_(Oval Office present day)_

"She knows you like to see her strong," Charlie continued. "She thinks what happened was her fault." 

'I wasn't scared, Daddy.' How many times had Zoey said that to him? Had he inadvertently forced her to put up a good front? Were there times that she had been afraid but had forced herself to be brave because it would gain his fatherly pride? If she had felt that way, it was certainly not something that he had done on purpose. 

"Her mother wants to take her back to New Hampshire for awhile. Well, her and the twins. What do you think?" 

Charlie thought of all the pressures that Zoey would face if she tried to heal on display at the White House. "I think her Mama's right." 

Jed had known that Abbey was right, but hearing it from Charlie as well forced him to come to the conclusion that he was going to have to let them go. It wasn't going to be easy by any means but he was going to have to set aside his own feelings and do what was right and what was best for his family. 

**** 

Abbey returned to the Residence more convinced than ever that leaving the White House was the right decision for both the children and for herself. Leo's visit had convinced her of that. She couldn't bear for others to witness the reaction that she'd had to being startled. She couldn't stand being under the microscope that she would be under if she remained behind. She couldn't stand the idea that Zoey wasn't going to be able to move without being surrounded by Secret Service agents. 

She wanted her children to be able wander relatively freely through the woods and fields of the farm. She wanted Zoey to have her old friends surrounding her to support her and talk to her. She wanted to be able to deal with her own fears and help her children without the scrutiny she would be under in the White House. Most of all, she needed to place some distance between her and Jed and the anger that she was feeling right now. At the farm, she could ride over the fields and hike in the mountains and try to heal her wounds and come to terms with things. 

When Jed found Abbey, she was in the nursery. The kids were playing on the floor working on wooden puzzles while she packed for them. She was counting out pants, shirts, and socks. Jed knew that this was not going to be a weekend trip when he saw her packing the little pink Disney princess panties she had bought Aislinn and the Spiderman underwear that Nicholas had asked for. They had agreed to give it a month or so and let the kids adjust before they attempted potty training again. Both had reverted back to full time diapers. Seeing her packing the underwear made their leaving a stark reality. This was not just a quick visit. They would be there for a while. 

"I see you've made the decision to leave." 

Jed hated the way she jolted with panic when she was startled. It was why he had spoken from the doorway, not entered the room to touch her. He watched her shoulders stiffen, could almost see the wall she was erecting around herself. "I have to go, Jed." 

"I know." 

Leo had told Jed about their earlier run in. He knew that Abbey was leaving because she truly believed that it was best for the children and a good mother always put her children first. But, he also knew that there was another part of this that she refused to admit, maybe even to herself. Abbey was a strong woman, it was not easy for her to ask for help and she didn't like for others to see her vulnerabilities and her fears. He knew that part of her reason for leaving was so that she could retreat to the privacy of their home and lick her wounds in private and he couldn't blame her for that. He felt the same way. He never liked for anyone to bear witness to any weakness on his part. However, in the past, at least they had revealed those fears to each other. That wasn't going to happen this time. He could already see Abbey closing off to him; she was not going to let him in this time. 

"I'll let Zoey know that I'm behind your decision." 

"Thank you." The words were stilted but Abbey really was grateful. Zoey was "Daddy's girl" and if she thought for one moment that her mother was dragging her off to New Hampshire against her fathers wishes, she would fight her tooth and nail. It was important that they were together on this. 

Jed found his daughter in the living room packing clothes that Abbey had piled on the chairs for her. 

"I can't believe you're doing this," Zoey said. 

"We've talked about going up to the farm for a long time." 

"Later on, all together." 

Jed's head went down. It was hard not to agree with her there. He wished they were all going together. 

"You guys ganged up on me," Zoey flashed her mother an irritated look as Abbey entered the room with more clothes. She wasn't stupid. She was well aware of the tension between her parents and hated the idea of leaving her father behind at the White House alone. 

"That's right." Jed's eyes were on Abbey not on Zoey as if trying to stay in her good graces. "Your mother and I are a united front, so don't even bother." 

Abbey dropped the pants she was bringing out to Zoey and gave Jed a look that told him she knew exactly what he was trying to do. Jed got to his feet to help Zoey with her packing. 

"Come on, this is going to be good." 

Abbey paused in the doorway looking back to see what he was going to say. 

"You'll have the orchard to walk in when your ankle is healed and you can ride Lance." He held a pile of clothes out to Zoey, but was looking at Abbey when he spoke as if to gauge her reaction. "I'll be up as soon as I can. There's only one thing you have to do for me. Give yourself time. Don't try to rush this." 

Abbey knew that his words were meant for her as well as their daughter. It was his way of getting across his blessing for their trip. She turned to leave the room. 

"There was a hand in the dark," Zoey said her voice wavering with emotion. "He would come to us in the dark. I woke up when he touched me and I found him…" Her eyes looked to where her mother had departed and knew it was not up to her to tell her father what had happened to her mother. "Well…you know." 

Jed's eyes followed his daughter's to the empty doorway knowing what she had left unsaid. "Yeah, I know." He only wished he did. Abbey had never really told him what had happened to her during her captivity. 

"When I start to fall asleep, it comes back." 

Jed swallowed reigning in his own emotions. "We're going to help you," he assured her. "We're all going to help you." 

Zoey nodded and Jed watched her shoulders stiffen bravely and Charlie's words came back to haunt him. 

"You have to do me a favor though, sweetheart. Don't bottle up your fears with me. Your mother isn't the only person that you can open up with. You don't always have to be strong for me. I love you no matter what and I'm here for you if you need me. I'm just a phone call and a two hour flight away." 

Zoey smiled through her tears and impulsively hugged her father. "I love you, too, Dad." 

Jed held her extra tight for a few long moments, enjoying the feel of her in his arms and knowing that it might be a long time before he got such a hug again. 

**** 

Leaving the White House had not been easy. Abbey had not expected it to be. But, it had been even more difficult than she had been prepared for. Nicholas had clutched onto Jed's neck crying that he wanted his daddy to come with them, and by the time Abbey could pry him off both she and Jed were close to tears. Now Aislinn was clutching onto her mother's skirt and regarding her father with big sad eyes one tear trickling down her cheek. 

'Oh, baby, you're breaking my heart,' Jed thought. But to his credit, he swallowed his pain and crouched down before her with a forced bright smile. "Don't be sad, sunshine. Daddy is going to come up for a visit as soon as I can. You're going to have a lot of fun playing outside with Max and Panda and you can feed the ducks and help Mommy pick apples." 

Aislinn nodded and wrapped her arms around her father's neck. Jed held her tightly burying his face into her hair inhaling her little girl scent. For so long he had wondered if he would ever hold her again like this and now he was losing her again. 

"Jed." Abbey gently touched his shoulder reluctant to tear them apart. "We have to leave." 

"I know." He cleared his throat of the tears that were clogging there. "Before you go I have something for Aislinn. He pulled a whistle out of his pocket and placed it around her neck. Aislinn fingered the whistle and flashed him a puzzled look. 

"This is so you can talk to me on the phone when I call. I'll ask you questions and if you want to say 'yes', you blow the whistle twice. If you want to answer 'no', you blow the whistle once. Okay?" 

Aislinn smiled and nodded then frowned as she looked down at the whistle. Jed could see she was worried. 

"It's okay if you forget the code. Mommy will remind you. Right?" He turned to Abbey who was struggling with her emotions over the father/daughter moment. 

Abbey nodded, a lump forming in her throat. She might be angry but she wasn't going to come between her children and their father. 

"Me too, Daddy?" Nicholas asked hopefully. 

"You know I wouldn't forget you, sport." Jed handed the boy a whistle and ruffled his hair. 

"Let's remember that those whistles are to be used when you talk to Daddy on the phone not to play with. We're supposed to be going away for a little peace and quiet." Abbey gave Jed a wry smile. Jed gave her a little shrug then bent to help her buckle the kids into their car seats. When they were finished, they both stood by the car awkwardly. Jed wanted to hug her but wasn't sure how receptive she would be to that. Instead, he shuffled his feet looking down at the ground. 

"Keep me posted on how things are going with the girls." 

"Of course." 

"I love you." He bent to kiss her cheek lightly. Abbey nodded through her tears and turned to get into a car that was filled with two dogs, a cat carrier, the two kids in their car seats and Zoey. Once inside the car, Zoey lay sideways on the seat, her head in Abbey's lap. Abbey absently stroked her hair as the car drove away from the White House. Away from Jed. 

Her guilt was crushing. She found it hard to breathe properly. She dug her fingernails into her palms hard, breaking the skin as if needing penance for the look in her husband's eyes when she'd told him she was leaving with the children. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the seat trying to block his face from her memory. 

Jed watched the motorcade leave the White House. The initial shock of Abbey leaving had worn off leaving him hurt and angry and, yes, even lost. He was angry that Abbey was shutting him out when it was so obvious that she needed him. He was angry about what happened to her and Zoey and Aislinn. He was angry that his girls had been hurt so badly simply because they had the misfortune of being loved by him. But, beyond the anger was pain – a raw empty pain that left him feeling as if his heart were being torn from his chest. It was a pain like had never felt before, as if everything he loved in the world was driving away from him and leaving him completely alone and on his own. Hell, Abbey had even taken the cat and he didn't even like the cat. A heavy pervasive loneliness settled over his shoulders and he re-entered the Residence, his back hunched, his eyes weary and his heart as heavy as it had ever been before. Was this the end? Was he losing his wife, his family? Would Abbey ever find it in her heart to forgive him? 

_The End_


End file.
